The Tanzania economy is poised to grow steadily to reach 8% in five years, which hinges on increased positive utilisation of resources and growth in productivity
The country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) last year grew by 4.8% and is expected to be in the same region this year as well not exceeding 5%.
The BoT governor Florens Luoga said, "Looking forward, (the) economy is poised to grow steadily, reaching more than 8% in the next five years", Luoga said when addressing the COFI. The conference, which was attended by 300 physical and 170 virtual participants, in day one discussed the aspects and policy drive needed to realise the projected growth in five years. One of the topics COFI discussed was on economic growth and sustainability during and beyond COVID-19.
In his presentation on economic growth and sustainability during and beyond COVID-19: priorities and policy options, Prof. Samwel Wangwe of Daima Associates highlighted six areas of priority for the economy to surge forward beyond the pandemic. "First, we need to prioritise our response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country through health, economic and several social aspects and decisions on the allocation of fiscal resources," Prof. Wangwe said.
While delivering his paper titled "Harnessing Digital Technologies for Inclusive Growth", University of Oxford, Prof. Stefan Dercon said that technology helps to bring down costs to produce and exchange goods or services, plus information, labour and capital.
BoT said digitalisation is gaining pace across the world, with implications to the way the country conduct business in various sectors of the economy. "It is also changing the manner in which people access and use financial services, with new digital financial products and platforms emerging rapidly," Prof. Tibaijuka said. In support of digitalisation, the central bank has been providing enabling regulatory environment in the financial sector.
An important milestone arising from the supportive regulatory framework is the increased innovations in mobile money and banking frontiers. Minister for Finance and Planning, Dr. Mwigulu Nchemba called on banks to come up with innovative proposals that will woo youths to join the private sector for self-employment.
