The Tanzanian National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has recently announced that the country’s GDP grew at a rate of 7.1% totaling TZS 10.9 trillion in the period Q4-2015 up from a growth of 4.1% totaling TZS 10.3 trillion in the period Q4-2014, calculated at constant prices as of 2007.
The announced was done through NBS’ website, where it is explained that the economic sectors driving the growth for the period Q4-2015 were Information and Communication with 23% growth, Public Administration and Defense with 19.7%, Financial and Insurance with 13.6%, and Mining and Quarrying with 10.6%.
On the other hand, sectors that recorded the slowest growth in the same period were Electricity and Gas with 0.1%, Water Supply with 1.4%, Accommodation and Food Services with 1.7%, and Agriculture with 2.6%.
NBS also released data for the period January to December, 2015, indicating that at constant prices as of 2007, the GDP totaled TZS 44.1 trillion up from TZS 41.2 trillion in the same period in 2014 and marking an annual growth of 7.1% in 2015 up from 7.0% in 2014.
According to Tanzania’s Minister of Energy and Minerals, Prof. Sospeter Muhongo, a growth rate of around 7.0% per annum is not enough to boost Tanzania’s industrialisation towards becoming a middle-income country by 2025, reason why the government is seeking to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in the power generation industry to ensure reliable and affordable electricity to all economic key sectors.
A growth rate of 10.0% per annum is necessary to achieve such goal and currently the Tanzanian government is working in a 2,070 hectares land to construct a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at a total investment of TZS 12 billion (USD 6 million) in Lindi town in Tanzania’s coastal southern region to add 2.0% growth to the 7.0% growth estimated for the next years according to the Bank of Tanzania (BOT).
Tanzania is a member of Standard Chartered bank “Seven Percent Club: a list of selected economies which have growth rates high enough to double the size of the economy in the next 10 years.
