Our Reporter
The Guardian
THE Minister for Foreign Affairs, East Africa,
Regional and International Cooperation, Augustine Mahiga, yesterday held
talks with the United States ambassador to Tanzania, Mark Childress, to
discuss bilateral relations and US development assistance to the
country.
Augustine Mahiga (r) talks with the United States Ambassador to Tanzania, Mark Childress (l) recently.
The
meeting came after a US government aid organisation, the Millennium
Challenge Corporation (MCC), last month froze $473 million (1
trillion/-) in financial assistance to Tanzania due to...
concerns over the conduct of the March 20 re-run elections in Zanzibar.
At the time, Childress issued a statement supporting the aid cancellation by MCC, and the government responded by saying its upcoming 2016/17 fiscal year budget would not be affected by the move.
President Magufuli also slammed the whole concept of foreign aid and its attached conditions and urged Tanzanians to work hard to become self-reliant. On Monday this week, Magufuli reiterated that Tanzania "would move forward" despite the aid cuts.
"During the cordial and productive meeting they (Mahiga and Childress) discussed the full range of bilateral issues and ongoing partnership, including shared goals and continuing US assistance to improve the health and education of the Tanzanian people," the foreign affairs ministry said in a terse statement.
"They also discussed on promoting broad-based economic growth, and advancing regional security in the spirit of continuing partnership and friendship between the two countries," it added.
The current government is set to make history by doubling development spending for the first time in recent memory in its maiden budget, while at the same time cutting its dependence on external funding.
According to finance and planning minister Philip Mpango, the unreliability of funds promised by donors is one of the major reasons behind the government’s decision to significantly reduce its traditional dependence on foreign aid as a source of finance for development projects in its upcoming 2016/17 budget.
Mpango last week outlined a 29.5 trillion/- budget plan in which 11.8trn/- will be allocated to development projects - an unprecedented 40.02 per cent of the total budget.
Up to 75 per cent of the funds to be set aside for development expenditure will be financed by domestic sources, thanks to a marked improvement in the government’s tax collection efforts through the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), plus a raft of ongoing public cost-cutting measures.
In previous budgets, less than 20 per cent of funds required for development expenditure came from domestic sources, meaning that the financing of key development projects was overwhelmingly dependent on foreign donor financing.
The size of the proposed 2016/17 budget is 31.3 per cent bigger than the 2015/16 budget of 22.5trn/-. In that current budget ending on June 30 this year, former president Jakaya Kikwete's administration allocated just 26 per cent of the total funds (5.9trn/-) to development expenditure.
The rest – 16.6trn/- - went to recurrent spending, a figure which sees a slight rise to around 17.7trn/- in the coming budget, finance minister Mpango said in a presentation to members of parliament in Dar es Salaam.
Mpango explained that 8.7trn/- of the 2016/17 budget allocated for development projects will be funded by internal sources and the remaining 3.1trn/- by external sources.
According to the finance minister, the upcoming budget will focus on infrastructure projects, industrializing the economy, and improving the education, health and water sectors.
concerns over the conduct of the March 20 re-run elections in Zanzibar.
At the time, Childress issued a statement supporting the aid cancellation by MCC, and the government responded by saying its upcoming 2016/17 fiscal year budget would not be affected by the move.
President Magufuli also slammed the whole concept of foreign aid and its attached conditions and urged Tanzanians to work hard to become self-reliant. On Monday this week, Magufuli reiterated that Tanzania "would move forward" despite the aid cuts.
"During the cordial and productive meeting they (Mahiga and Childress) discussed the full range of bilateral issues and ongoing partnership, including shared goals and continuing US assistance to improve the health and education of the Tanzanian people," the foreign affairs ministry said in a terse statement.
"They also discussed on promoting broad-based economic growth, and advancing regional security in the spirit of continuing partnership and friendship between the two countries," it added.
The current government is set to make history by doubling development spending for the first time in recent memory in its maiden budget, while at the same time cutting its dependence on external funding.
According to finance and planning minister Philip Mpango, the unreliability of funds promised by donors is one of the major reasons behind the government’s decision to significantly reduce its traditional dependence on foreign aid as a source of finance for development projects in its upcoming 2016/17 budget.
Mpango last week outlined a 29.5 trillion/- budget plan in which 11.8trn/- will be allocated to development projects - an unprecedented 40.02 per cent of the total budget.
Up to 75 per cent of the funds to be set aside for development expenditure will be financed by domestic sources, thanks to a marked improvement in the government’s tax collection efforts through the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), plus a raft of ongoing public cost-cutting measures.
In previous budgets, less than 20 per cent of funds required for development expenditure came from domestic sources, meaning that the financing of key development projects was overwhelmingly dependent on foreign donor financing.
The size of the proposed 2016/17 budget is 31.3 per cent bigger than the 2015/16 budget of 22.5trn/-. In that current budget ending on June 30 this year, former president Jakaya Kikwete's administration allocated just 26 per cent of the total funds (5.9trn/-) to development expenditure.
The rest – 16.6trn/- - went to recurrent spending, a figure which sees a slight rise to around 17.7trn/- in the coming budget, finance minister Mpango said in a presentation to members of parliament in Dar es Salaam.
Mpango explained that 8.7trn/- of the 2016/17 budget allocated for development projects will be funded by internal sources and the remaining 3.1trn/- by external sources.
According to the finance minister, the upcoming budget will focus on infrastructure projects, industrializing the economy, and improving the education, health and water sectors.
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