Tanzania’ Q1 GDP Slows

Tanzania’s economic growth slowed to 6.6 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019, from 7.5 per cent in the same period a year earlier, official data showed on Sunday, weighed down by softer construction, agriculture and manufacturing activity. A report from the International Monetary Fund said earlier this year that Tanzania’s economy has not been expanding as fast as official figures suggest. It said lower growth was partly due to...

President John Magufuli’s “unpredictable and interventionist” policies.
In the first quarter, construction, the biggest driver of GDP, grew 13.2 per cent, compared with 15.6 per cent a year ago, Reuters quoted the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to have disclosed.
However, growth in the mining sector, which has been the target of repeated government interventions, rebounded to 10 per cent, from a 5.7 per cent decline during the same period in 2018. Tanzania is Africa’s fourth-largest gold producer.