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MINISTER for Finance Dr Mwigulu Nchemba on Thursday presented the 2024/25 budget, themed “Sustainable Economic Transformation through Fiscal Consolidation and Investment in Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation for Improved Livelihoods,” aligning it with Tanzania’s Development Vision 2025 and global commitments.

It emphasises long-term development goals with ambitious macroeconomic targets to enhance economic stability and foster growth.

The budget targets a GDP growth of 5.4 per cent for 2024, up from 5.1 per cent in 2023, driven by anticipated improvements in both domestic and global economic conditions.

It supports this growth with a rise in domestic revenue to 15.8 per cent of GDP and an increase in tax revenue to 12.9 per cent of GDP aimed at enhancing tax compliance and expanding the tax base.

Key financial strategies, as outlined by Dr Nchemba, include maintaining inflation within a 3.0 – 5.0 per cent range, capping the deficit at 3.0 per cent of GDP, and ensuring that foreign exchange reserves cover at least four months of imports.

These measures are intended to serve as a robust safety net against external shocks.

The 2024/25 budget strategically emphasises capital expenditure, allocating 14.755tri/- of the total 49.35tri/- for infrastructure and industrialisation projects essential for sustainable growth and productivity.

This focus on capital over recurrent spending demonstrates the government’s commitment to operational efficiency. With a targeted deficit of 2.9 per cent of GDP, the budget ensures sustainable debt management and economic stability.

Additionally, it diversifies investments into critical sectors like railways, roads, and water, with significant support for the Rural Energy Agency (REA).

These allocations aim to reduce vulnerabilities to sector-specific shocks and foster consistent economic growth, underscoring the government’s dedication to sustainable development and resilience.

The budget, while ambitious, carries potential risks. Its optimistic GDP growth target of 5.4 per cent relies heavily on substantial increases in domestic and tax revenue, which may not be achieved if tax compliance and base expansion efforts falter.

The focus on capital expenditures also poses a risk of underfunding essential services such as healthcare and education. Moreover, a strict deficit cap of 2.9 per cent of GDP could restrict fiscal flexibility, potentially leading to unplanned borrowing or cuts in critical services during economic shifts.

Reflecting on last year’s fiscal management strategies, it’s clear that significant improvements are essential for boosting Tanzania’s economic health. Enhancing tax compliance and administration is critical to preventing evasion and expanding the tax base, thereby securing a robust revenue stream.

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There is also an urgent need for the effective and timely use of funds allocated to infrastructure, healthcare, and education to maximize the impact of these investments.

The government must maintain strict controls over borrowing and debt service to ensure transparency and sustainability, while strengthening economic resilience through diversification to mitigate the effects of external shocks.

Furthermore, increasing transparency and enhancing stakeholder engagement are vital to promoting participatory governance and building public trust.

However, the current budget’s focus on specific sectors like railways and roads risks neglecting other crucial areas, potentially hampering balanced economic development. The lack of detailed diversification plans also leaves the economy vulnerable to external shocks.

Dr Nchemba, representing the government, should tackle these challenges by enhancing transparency and stakeholder engagement. These efforts are critical for building public trust and ensuring effective policy implementation, key factors in sustaining economic growth and promoting stability as Tanzania moves forward.

Kelvin Msangi is an Operation Director at Tanzania Music Rights Society.

Source: allafrica.com

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The government is expected to receive consignments of oil pipes covering 100 kilometres each month for the next 11 months, to be utilised in the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project.

This was revealed on Thursday by the Minister for Finance, Dr Mwigulu Nchemba while tabling the National Budget for 2024/25 financial year.

He said the pipe laying works are scheduled to commence in August this year and the project is expected to be completed by December next year. Dr Nchemba explained that currently, various works are underway and oil pipes to cover 600km have already been imported.

“As of May this year, the government had paid a total of 307.3 million US dollar, equivalent to 99.8 per cent of the required amount of 308 million US dollar as compensation to the Project Affected Persons (PAPs),” Dr Nchemba said.

ALSO READ: EACOP compensation payment reaches over 99pc

He said the government through the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) holds a 15 per cent share of the EACOP project.

Minister Nchemba said that the achievements under the energy sector indicate that President Samia Suluhu Hassan is keen to ensure accessibility and reliability of power across the country.

“The government through the Rural Energy Agency (REA), has connected 11,973 villages, equivalent to 97.2 per cent of all villages in the country and contractors are continuing to connect the remaining villages,” he said.

Adding that, 32,827 of the 64,359 hamlets nationwide, 12 have access to electricity. Saying that the work is ongoing until all the remaining hamlets have access to electricity.

Source: allafrica.com

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DODOMA — THE government has allocated 285.3bn/- for sports development, with a focus on building standard stadia to stage the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.

As Tanzania gets prepared to cohost the event with Kenya and Uganda, the Finance Minister, Mwigulu Nchemba, disclosed the amount while presenting the National Budget that totals 49.3 tri/-.

Of the said amount, 285.3bn/- has been assigned to the Culture, Arts, and Sports sector, representing a significant increase from the previous year’s budget of 35.4bn/.

This indicates a substantial increase of 250bn/- for the ministry.

“The preparation of teams requires the availability of standard stadiums. The government is prepared to construct new stadiums and rehabilitate some of the existing ones. Regarding the quality of the pitches, the government has already enacted a law that provides tax exemptions for importation of turf and its equipment,” Minister Nchemba noted.

This heavy allocation underscores the government’s determination to bolster sports infrastructure nationwide, with a particular focus on stadium construction, renovation and the enhancement of sports facilities across the country.

During the budget presentation on May 23rd in Dodoma, Minister for Culture, Arts, and Sports, Damas Ndumbaro, outlined the ambitious plans set forth by the government.

“Notably, 125.29bn/- has been allocated for the development of the Arusha Sports Complex, signalling a significant investment in this key sporting venue,” he said.

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Additionally, substantial sums have been allocated for the enhancement of the Dodoma and Dar es Salaam sports complexes, amounting to 55.5bn/- and 26.5bn/- respectively.

Minister Ndumbaro emphasised that these initiatives align with the government’s broader vision to elevate sports infrastructure to international standards, providing athletes with optimal training and competition environments.

Beyond the major sports complexes, a notable allocation of 11.5 bn/- has been dedicated to the construction and improvement of sports infrastructure in various schools.

This moves underscores Tanzania’s commitment to nurturing young talent and fostering a culture of sporting excellence from grassroots levels.

Furthermore, the government has allocated 10.02 bn/- for the establishment of the Malya Sports Academy in Mwanza Region.

This academy is poised to become a beacon of excellence, offering specialised training programmes to groom future sports stars in Tanzania. In a bid to sustain and promote sports activities across the nation, the Sports Development Fund has received a substantial allocation of 8bn/-.

Additionally, 1.5bn/- has been set aside for the construction of the Malya Sports Development College, aimed at providing specialised education in sports management and development.

To provide to the holistic wellbeing of citizens, the budget includes provisions for the construction of state-of-the-art exercise and relaxation centres in Dar es Salaam and Dodoma, with an allocation of 12 bn/- .

These centres are poised to promote a culture of physical fitness and recreational activities, contributing to a healthier populace.

Source: allafrica.com

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Geneva — The United Nations refugee agency says forced displacement around the globe surged to historic new heights last year, driven by conflict, persecution, human rights violations, climate crises and other disturbing events.

In its 2024 Global Trends Report, UNHCR says 117.3 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide by the end of 2023. Some 68 million were uprooted from their homes by conflict and remain displaced within their own countries. Another 31 million were refugees, while tens of millions more were asylum seekers, returnees or stateless people.

The report, released Thursday, finds that the number of forcibly displaced has continued to rise this year and that the current figure now stands at 120 million.

“Regrettably, this is the 12th consecutive year in which this figure goes up,” U.N. refugee chief Filippo Grandi told journalists in Geneva Monday in advance of the report’s publication. “Conflict remains a very, very big driver of displacement.”

Grandi added that UNHCR “declared 43 emergencies in 29 countries” in 2023. “This figure, until two, three years ago, used to be on average eight, maximum 10 times a year.”

Grandi deplored changes in the conduct of wars, noting that warring parties almost everywhere nowadays “disregard the laws of war, of international humanitarian law and often with the specific purpose of terrorizing people, of instilling fear in people.”

“This, of course is a powerful contributor to more displacement than even in the past,” he said.

The report cites the conflict in Sudan as a key factor driving the current surge in forcible displacement. By the end of 2023, a total of 10.8 million Sudanese were displaced from their homes — triple the number before the war began in April of that year. Most of the uprooted Sudanese — 9.1 million — are internally displaced, while another 1.7 million are refugees.

Describing himself as “very keen” to speak out about Sudan, Grandi called it “a very forgotten crisis although it is one of the most catastrophic ones — not just in terms of displacement, but in terms of hunger, lack of access, violation of human rights, and so forth.”

Other crises that have created a spike in new forced displacements are the conflicts in Gaza, Myanmar, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. UNRWA, the UN relief and works agency for Palestine refugees, estimates up to 1.7 million people — over 75% of the population — “have been displaced within the Gaza Strip, with some having been forced to flee multiple times.”

The report says more than 1.3 million people were displaced within Myanmar in 2023 “by escalating violence following the military takeover in February 2021” and that a resurgence of fighting in the eastern part of DRC uprooted 3.8 million people who “were newly internally displaced” during the year.

The U.N. report also touches on what the report calls endless conflicts that continue to displace people in countries that include Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.

Of the complex mix of diverse factors uprooting populations globally, Grandi described climate change as a particularly virulent driver of conflict and displacement, with one sometimes triggering the other.

“It can be a driver of conflict and hence of displacement, especially when the very scarce resources of very poor communities become even scarcer because of climate change,” he said. “That drives conflict. We have seen it in so many parts of Africa, in the Sahel, for example. In the Horn of Africa, but also elsewhere.”

The report debunks a common misperception that many refugees go to rich countries.

“The vast majority of refugees are hosted in countries neighboring their own, with 75 percent residing in low-and middle-income countries that together produce less than 20 percent of the world’s income,” say the report, which also notes that although children account for 30% of the world’s population, they account for 40% of all forcibly displaced people.

Syria remains the world’s largest displacement crisis, UNHCR reports, “with 13.8 million forcibly displaced in and outside the country.”

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The United States is identified as the world’s largest recipient of new asylum claims with 1.2 million applications tallied in 2023, followed by Germany, Egypt, Spain, and Canada.

Authors of the report acknowledge that solutions for forced displacement are very rare. They note that only around five million internally displaced people and one million refugees returned home in 2023.

Despite this grim assessment, High Commissioner Grandi said that solutions do exist, citing the example of Kenya which has enacted the so-called Shirika plan, to resolve its nagging refugee problem.

“The President has decided, and the country’s institutions have approved, that for the 600,000 refugees in Kenya, mostly Somalis and South Sudanese, measures will be progressively taken to include them in the communities in which they live.

“I consider that a positive trend,” he said. “And Kenya being an important country in East Africa, I hope that this will have a positive impact also on other countries.”

Source: allafrica.com

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The government has stated that strategies to mitigate the effects of the war in Ukraine, along with investments in agriculture, energy, water, construction, mining, and transport sectors, spurred economic growth by 5.4 percent in 2024, up from 5.1 percent recorded in 2023.

This rate is slightly above the average of 4.4 percent forecasted in 2023 for member countries of the East African Community (EAC) and 3.8 percent for member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

The Minister of Planning and Investment, Prof Kitila Mkumbo, said in his National Economic Status Report for the year 2023, presented in Parliament in Dodoma on Thursday (June 13, 2024) morning, that the real GDP reached 148.4bn/- in 2023 from 141.2bn/- in 2022.

“This growth was driven by various efforts undertaken by the government, including strategies to counteract the effects of the Ukraine-Russia war and strategic investments in infrastructure for energy, water, health, education, and transportation,” he said.

Other contributing factors, according to the Minister of Planning, include increased mineral production, particularly gold and coal, and increased lending to the private sector, which stimulated economic activities.

However, the GDP growth rate of 5.1percent in 2023 fell short of the annual target of 5.2 percent.

According to Prof Mkumbo, this was due to rising production costs in some sectors; climate change affecting agricultural production in some parts of the country and damaging infrastructure, including bridges and roads.

Prof Mkumbo added that measures taken by developed countries to combat inflation, which led to increased borrowing costs from international financial markets, also affected production activities.

An analysis of Economic Growth Trends and Contributions to Growth in each Quarter between 2019 and 2023 shows that the economy grew by 6.9 percent in 2019, 4.5 percent in 2020, 4.8 percent in 2021, 4.7 percent in 2022, and 5.1 percent in 2023.

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The Minister explained that the agriculture sector had the largest contribution to GDP, accounting for 26.5 percent.

Other significant contributors included Construction (13.2 percent), Mining (9 percent), Trade and Repairs (8.3 percent), Transport (7.2 percent), and Manufacturing (7 percent).

According to Mkumbo, the Arts and Entertainment sector continued to lead in growth rate in 2023, expanding by 17.7 percent, followed by the Financial and Insurance sector at 12.2 percent, and Mining at 11.3 percent.

The Accommodation and Food Services sector grew by 8.3 percent, along with the Information and Communication sector, which grew by 7.6 percent.

Source: allafrica.com

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The East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline Project (EACOP) has completed 99 percent of compensation payments for project victims in the lake zone.

EACOP Communications Division Officer, Ms Catherine Mbatia revealed this while presenting the compensation program to journalists in Geita town.

Ms Catherine said so far, 99 per cent of the victims who either their land or houses have been affected by the project have almost been compensated.

She said to date, there are no complaints from anyone because the project has respected human rights and complied to national and international laws.

“We make sure that everyone gets his rights, we started at the village level where the oil pipeline passes and went to other parts in the regions. “We had everyone’s information, we made sure everyone was reached not only in their household but also getting the right information from the villages and neighborhoods chairmen.

“Therefore, the village chairmen report helped us a lot to reduce complaints, no one was bullied and even if someone was bullied, he or she got his rights,” she said.

Geita Region Oil Pipeline Project Relations Coordinator, Mr Moses Msophe said all compensation procedures have been observed and about 1,470 people who have been affected have been compensated.

“Among them, 36 were those who were directly affected in their homes, while 1,434 were victims who were affected in their areas. “The compensation payment involved a high level of transparency, presentation as well as documents review.”

Mr Msophe said a total of 23 houses have been built for the victims of the crude oil pipeline in Chato district, Geita district, Bukombe and Mbogwe.

“The biggest challenge we encountered during the payment of compensation is family conflicts. We, as project officers, when we encounter conflicts, we seize the compensation procedures.”

Source: allafrica.com

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Human Rights Watch has accused police guarding the North Mara Gold Mine in northern Tanzania of complicity in the deaths of at least six people and injuries sustained by several others in clashes around the mine in the past four months. 

The rights watchdog called on Tanzanian authorities to promptly launch “independent and impartial investigations” into the incidents, the latest in a series of similar allegations involving security operations at the mine since 2014.

The mine, which is located in Mara region close to the border with Kenya, is operated by Canadian multinational Barrick Gold with the Tanzanian government holding joint shares and providing the security as part on their agreement. 

Read: Tanzania signs new implementation deal with Barrick

This is not the first time local police have been accused of using excessive force, including killings, to prevent artisanal miners from conducting their own small-scale operations in and around the premises.

According to rights groups and community members, police officers have been responsible for beating, shooting, torturing, and detaining without charge residents of areas near the mine and dumping areas.

The police in turn have accused the residents of illegal invasion and stealing from the mine and its surrounding waste rock dumping sites, but have made no arrests so far.

“The growing number of unaccounted for killings connected to Tanzania’s North Mara Gold Mine reflect a worrying pattern of impunity for abuses that needs to be addressed,” said Oryem Nyeko, senior Tanzania researcher at Human Rights Watch in a statement from Nairobi on Wednesday.

“The Tanzanian authorities should not sweep these deaths under the rug but should ensure that those responsible are held to account,” he added.

Court case

Barrick Gold, meanwhile, told HRW this week that it did not have “any de facto control” over the local police and their actions.

“The police are requested to enter the mine site to assist in upholding law and order when the company employees’ lives are in danger. We are not in any way involved or aware of police activity in the community nor can we be responsible or accountable simply because such activity occurs in geographical proximity to the North Mara Gold Mine,” HRW quoted Barrick as saying.

Barrick is currently facing a court case in Canada where a group of 21 Tanzanians is suing the company over alleged complicity in extrajudicial killings and beatings of residents by police assigned to the North Mara mine. 

The petitioners claim that the company has converted the police operating in and around the mine “into a private and heavily armed security force.” A preliminary hearing of the case, which was filed in 2022, has been scheduled for October this year, according to HRW.

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