TANZANIA REGISTERS SUPER POVERTY DECLINE - RECORD

 C R Y ,     M  Y    BELOVED   COUNTRY !!!   

SWIMMING IN GOD GIVEN  NATURAL RESOURCES  DOES NOT MEAN  THAT TANZANIA'S  ECONOMIC WELLBEING IS  IMPROVING !!!

http://www.dailynews.co.tz/index.php/local-news/44631-tanzania-registers-super-poverty-decline-record

Published on Friday, 08 May 2015 02:42

Written by CHRISTOPHER MAJALIWA

Minister for Finance, Ms Saada Salum Mkuya

THE country has recorded poverty decline at the rate of one percentage point per year between 2007 and 2012, constituting the first significant reduction in 20 years, it has been revealed in the 2015 Poverty Assessment for Tanzania Mainland.

Speaking in Dar es Salaam on Thursday. 7th May, 2015 at the launch of the report, Finance Minister Saada Mkuya Salum attributed the turn down to sustained rapid economic growth and concerted efforts around national strategies to alleviate poverty.

Ms Salum pointed out that the report came at a right time when Tanzania was preparing a successor plan for National Strategy for Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction (MKUKUTA II) and Five- Year Development Plan.

“This report is relevant and timely. It suggests policy options and technical solutions, which should be the part of government’s pre-occupation in the coming years,” she noted.

The minister said that Tanzanian economy has expanded as reflected in growth in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of about seven per cent per annum since 2001.

“The percentage of Tanzanians living below the poverty line declined from 34 per cent in 2007 to 28.2 per cent in 2011/2012. This is significant decline noted since 1991,” Ms Salum affirmed.

She, however, asserted that despite poverty decline, the number of poor people remains high due to relatively high rate of population growth.

According to available statistics, in 2011/2012, about 12 million Tanzanians were still poor and majority of them were based in rural areas.

Ms Salum noted that inequality measured in Gini scale declined from 39 per cent in between 2001 and 2007 to 37 in 2011/2012.

Gini scale, according to Wikipedia, is defined as the extent to which the distribution of income or consumption expenditure among individuals or households within an economy deviates.

She expounded further that the shares of consumption of the poorest 20 per cent of Tanzanians grew by 16 per cent, being the fastest rate compared to all other quintiles.

“This shows that government policies continue to produce results, which mostly favour the poor. As a result, Tanzania is among the 10 most-equal societies/countries in African continent,” she asserted.

Owing to massive discoveries of natural gas and other industrial minerals, the minister said the government looks forward to being one of the larger economies and potential drive in the region.

She added that as Tanzania moves to harness these prospects, government efforts would be aimed at the ultimate goal of making Tanzania a poverty-free country as stated in the National Development Vision 2025.

World Bank Country Director for Tanzania, Burundi and Uganda, Mr Philippe Dongier, said that what was more important was to accelerate the trend further so as to address the important challenges that still remain.

“The majority of Tanzanians remain close to the poverty line. In fact, more than 70 per cent of the population lives on less than 2 US dollars per day.

There is a lot of work ahead to improve the living standards of all Tanzanians,” he noted. He said the report indicated that poverty declined more rapidly in the country’s commercial city, Dar es Salaam than in the rest of the country.

He affirmed that investment made by the government and its development partners to better measure and understand the determinants of poverty reduction in Tanzania were important steps towards designing improved development programmes.