Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Economy is stable, set for strong growth - BoT

FLORENCE MUGARULA
THE economy is stable and is set to grow as projected basing on the ongoing economic activities, the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) has said.

The bank said in a statement that various indicators show the positive economic growth for the year 2016 would reach the projected 7.2 per cent rate.
“We are confident that the ongoing economic activities in the country will boost the growth of the economy by 7.2 percent this year, as it was projected earlier,” reads part of the statement.
It states that the increase in the export of local industrial goods is expected to contribute largely to the growth of the economy.
The export of industrial goods has recorded good performance in the past six months compared to the same period in 2015 reaching 728.5 million US dollars, which is an increase of 15.6 percent compared to goods exported in the same period last year.
According to the statement , there were all signs for strong economic growth due to the fact that the fifth government is determined to build up progressive economy.
“The fifth government does not give chance for corruption practices, it is ensuring strong supervision of resources and setting up strong infrastructure for building up industrial economy under the five years development plan,” reads part of the statement.
Among factors behind the country’s economic growth include cement production on which in the first quarter of 2016, the production increased by seven percent.
In the first three months of 2016, the country produced a total of 725,000 tons of cement compared to 680,000 tons of cement, which was produced in the same period in 2015. The increase of cement production in the first three months of 2016 is attributed to the establishment of Dangote cement factory in Mtwara Region. “We expect other cement factories to boost cement production this year.
Cement is highly needed product in the country,” reads the report.
The bank said generation of electricity has also increased in the country and thus helping to boost economic growth. In the first three months of 2016 power generation has increased by 14.5 percent to reach kWh 3,454.2m compared to kWh 3,016.7m of 2015.
The increase of power generation is attributed to the uses of gas. “Power generated from gas has increased by 52.2 percent, this situation will help production in various industries in the country,” the report noted.
Moreover, importation of raw materials to Tanzania industries has increased by 19.4 percent in the last six months. According to the report, increase of importation of raw materials is due to the increase of production in Tanzania industries. Also the statement indicates that tax collection in the past six months has increased compared to the same period in 2015.
“This indicates that the government has so far managed to supervise the collection of tax and strengthening of the economy,” reads the report. On loans from commercial banks to private sector, the report says that in the past six months a total of 1.2 trillion has been provided.
Moreover, the report states that in the first three months of 2016, the gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 5.5 percent compared to 5.7 percent of the same period in 2015.
Among sectors that contributed to the economic growth are agriculture (11percent), trade (10.6 percent), transportation (10.1 per cent) Finance (10.1 percent) and Communication (10 percent).
Economic activities that recorded high growth were Finance (13.5 percent), Communication (13.4) and public administration (10.2 percent).

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