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The Tanzania economy is poised to grow steadily to reach 8,0 percent in five years, which hinges on increased positive utilisation of resources and growth in productivity. The country Gross Domestic Product (GDP) last year grew by 4,8 percent and is expected to be in the same region this year as well not exceeding 5,0 percent.
The BoT Governor, Prof. Florens Luoga said this while addressing the 20th Conference of Financial Institutions (COFI), saying that the economy will be pushed by increased productivity and utilisation of raw material."Looking forward, (the) economy is poised to grow steadily, reaching more than 8,0 percent in the next five years" Prof. Luoga said when addressing the COFI on Thursday. The conference, which was attended by 300 physical and 170 virtual participants, in day one discussed the aspects and policy drive needed to realise the projected growth in five years. One of the topics COFI discussed was on economic growth and sustainability during and beyond COVID-19.
In his presentation on economic growth and sustainability during and beyond COVID-19: priorities and policy options, Prof. Samwel Wangwe of Daima Associates highlighted six areas of priority for the economy to surge forward beyond the pandemic. "First, we need to prioritise our response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country through health, economic and several social aspects and decisions on the allocation of fiscal resources," Prof. Wangwe said. Also, he said the country needs to reaffirm its focus on long term development agenda-growth with transformation and inclusivity and reviving the interaction between social and economic policy.
"The economy should cope with burgeoning youth population and formalise the large informal economy to accelerate trade, job creation and access to services. And digital transformation offers the potential to considerably create trade, jobs and access to services," Prof. Wangwe said. University of Oxford, Prof. Stefan Dercon said when delivering his paper titled "Harnessing Digital Technologies for Inclusive Growth" that technology helps to bring down costs to produce and exchange goods or services, plus information, labour and capital.
The professor of economy suggested for creation of digital economy toolkit which is cross-cutting framework and process that coordinates activities into a cohesive, comprehensive strategy for inclusive economic growth in the digital age. "The outcome of the process is distinct from an ICT strategy and sets out a clear path to leverage connectivity and digital technology for job creation, economic growth and government service delivery," Prof. Dercon, a Belgian Economist, said. Currently, countries which have completed the toolkit processes are South Africa, Ethiopia and Mongolia, while the process is underway in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Benin and Malawi.
He said that the government should also embark on a long term development agenda informed by growth with transformation and promote the interaction between economic and social policy. Prof. Anna Tibaijuka who chaired the first discussion session, said BoT should accelerate the formation of buying gold to beef up foreign reserves. "The gold will be purchased from our very owned artisanal miners using local currency," Prof. Tibaijuka said.
BoT said digitalisation is gaining pace across the world, with implications to the way the country conduct business in various sectors of the economy. "It is also changing the manner in which people access and use financial services, with new digital financial products and platforms emerging rapidly," Prof. Tibaijuka said. In support of digitalisation, the central bank has been providing enabling regulatory environment in the financial sector.
An important milestone arising from the supportive regulatory framework is the increased innovations in mobile money and banking frontiers. Minister for Finance and Planning, Dr. Mwigulu Nchemba called on banks to come up with innovative proposals that will woo youths to join the private sector for self-employment. "Banks, please come up with these proposals so as the government can come up with a policy that enables youths to venture into private sector," Dr. Nchemba said, adding that the government wants the proposals to be incorporated in 2022/2023 Fiscal Year.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Embassy of the United Republic of Tanzania Tel Aviv, Israel.
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