Major poverty triggers cited

Finance and Planning Minister Philip Mpango stated that the three sectors which employ about 60 per cent of Tanzanians contribute only 3.6 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per annum.

Speaking at the 7th annual conference of the Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF), Dr Mpango stated further that 28 per cent of Tanzanians were living below the poverty line, according to figures provided by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) last year.

“The growth of the sectors is still low and population growth is on an increase, with many people relying on the same sectors for survival and eventually leading to poverty and income inequality,” the minister explained.

The meeting which was held under the theme ‘Equitable growth and human development in resource based economy; Dialogue on Stockholm Statement for Tanzania,’ was organised jointly by ESRF and the Swedish Embassy in Tanzania. “Many researchers and policy makers are confronted with a paradox on the mismatch between robust growth and slow response of poverty to the growing economy.

This paradox has been a contentious area of policy debate. “Another area of discussion is the question as to why Tanzania is still poor given the abundance of natural resources; this is even more relevant today with the recent discoveries of huge reserves of natural gas,” he explained

. Dr Magufuli said the government appreciated and valued intellectual contributions by research and academic institutions in finding solutions to address some of the challenges facing the country to attain economic growth.

“I am delighted on the other hand that the theme of the conference provides us an opportunity of zeroing in our discussion on options that Tanzania can make to harness its abundant natural resources for inclusive growth and welfare of the people,” he stated.

Earlier, the Executive Director of ESRF, Dr Tausi Kida, explained that the conference was aimed at augmenting national efforts on maximizing benefits from natural resources for growth and human development.

“The drive of this meeting is to discuss the Stockholm Statement and the way it can inform designing of development policies in Tanzania and other resource-rich African economies,” Dr Kida explained.

The Stockholm Statement was formulated when 13 leading development economists, including Nobel Laureate, Prof Joseph Stiglitz, and three former chief economists of the World Bank summarised their accumulated knowledge on good economic policy for inclusive and sustainable development.

Dr Kida explained further that the statement was developed following a meeting in Stockholm in 2016 which was hosted bythe Swedish International Development Cooperation (SIDA).

Eight principles were adopted for combined perspectives and holistic development. Dr Stiglitz emphasized on the need for Tanzania to implement adequate infrastructure projects for the country to attain development. The Nobel laureate also stressed that the country ought to maximize revenues from natural resources through transparent contracts.

Source: Daily News

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