Tanzania can graduate from aid, says visiting UK minister

The visiting UK Secretary of State for International Development, Ms Justine Greening (left), listens to Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda during official talks in Dar es Salaam yesterday before the launch of the United Kingdom and Tanzania High Level Prosperity Partnership initiative. PHOTO | PMO 

By Songa wa Songa,The Citizen

In Summary

“The challenge is to keep that momentum going, to accelerate growth even faster and to ensure that everyone reaps the benefits of that growth,”

Dar es Salaam.With its recently-discovered natural gas, Tanzania can graduate from aid to prosperity if it eases investment environment and increases trade and creates more jobs, a visiting UK minister has observed.

Speaking at the launch of the United Kingdom-Tanzania High Level Prosperity Partnership initiative in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the UK Secretary of State for International Development, Ms Justine Greening, said Tanzania was in a better position to make a leap considering its growth levels of nearly seven per cent for the last decade.

Coupled with good governance and tripling export of goods and services, she said Tanzania was “on the verge of economic transformation”. However, she warned that the road to economic independence that the country had taken was not a smooth one.

“The challenge is to keep that momentum going, to accelerate growth even faster and to ensure that everyone reaps the benefits of that growth,” she said. Thriving private sector, proper tax base to support social services such as health, education and infrastructure are necessary conditions, she added.

Ms Greening who is accompanied by representatives of 18 UK companies said the UK was determined to help Tanzania realise its enormous potential and lift wananchi out of poverty.

The initiative will dwell on four areas: oil and gas, renewable energy, agriculture and business environment strengthening.

But if Tanzania really wanted to graduate from aid to trade with current donor countries like the UK, the minister warned against aid. “This is really the lesson of the last 30 years—it is growth and jobs that defeat poverty, aid by itself is not enough,” she said.

She said the high-level business delegation with her was also eyeing investment opportunities in capital markets, transport and logistics.

Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda who graced the event said the initiative had come at an opportune time since it was in line with the country’s quest to graduate to a middle income country by 2025 under its Vision 2025.

“To ensure that this initiative yields the desired results, we need responsible private sector,” he said.