According to Deloitte’s “Northeasterly Bearing Economic Outlook 2014” report, Tanzania was the fastest growing economy in East Africa in 2013 with a GDP growth of 6.9%.
The agricultural sector, which accounts for half of the national income, grew by an estimated 4.3%. This has been driven by an increased production of the major food crops such as maize, paddy, millet/sorghum and cassava.
Inflation was successfully reduced by Bank of Tanzania’s (BOT) tight monetary policies, declining from a peak of 20% in December 2011 to 5.6% in December 2013 and slightly increasing back to 6.5% in May 2014.
During the same year microeconomic indicators of the other East African countries mentioned in the report (namely Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda) were the following:
Kenya had a GDP growth of 5.1% and an inflation that was successfully reduced to 5.7% at the end of 2013 and revamped to 6.4 % in April 2014.
Uganda had a GDP growth of 5.8% in 2013 and an inflation of 5.9 % at the end of 2013 that was revamped to 6.9% in January 2014.
Rwanda had a 6.5% GDP growth in 2013 and inflation of 4.2% at the end of 2013.
According to the forecasts included in the report based on BOT and International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates, Tanzania GDP is expected to reach 8.2% in 2014 and 8.1% in 2015.
The Deloitte report is available at the following link: http://www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-Kenya/Local%20Assets/Documents/Budget%202014/EconomicOutlook2014.pdf
