DODOMA: TANZANIA’S economy showed strong momentum in 2024, with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growing by 5.5 per cent, up from 5.1 per cent in the previous year, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa told the National Assembly yesterday.
Presenting the review and direction of government activities and revenue expenditure estimates for his office for the 2025/2026 financial year, Mr Majaliwa said the growth uptick was fuelled by strong performances in crucial sectors and sound fiscal and monetary policies that have also brought down the cost of living.
Other factors included solid revenue collection, which nearly met overall targets and exceeded them in key areas, alongside comfortable foreign exchange reserves, he said.
Majaliwa said the growth was supported by increased electricity production, stronger social services and higher lending to the private sector, infrastructure development and the transport sector.
The fastest-growing sectors included arts and entertainment growing by 17.1 per cent, finance and insurance (16.3 per cent) and information and communication (14.3 per cent).
Inflation fell to an average of 3.1 per cent in 2024 from 3.8 per cent in 2023, comfortably within the government’s target range, Majaliwa said attributing that to sound fiscal and monetary policies, sufficient food supplies and improved transport infrastructure.
The Premier also noted that external accounts remained stable, with foreign exchange reserves edging up to 5.50 billion US dollars by the close of 2024, up slightly from 5.45 billion US dollars in the same period of 2023 to provide ample cover for over 4.5 months of imports.
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This was supported by the central bank’s domestic gold purchasing programme, higher global gold prices boosting export earnings, strong sales of cash crops like cashew nuts and tobacco and a rise in tourism, he said.
On the fiscal front, domestic revenue collection showed robust growth, reaching 22.58tri/- in the July-February period, nearly hitting the 22.60tri/- target and representing a 16.6 per cent year-over-year increase.
This success is linked to improved ICT systems for revenue management, a better business and investment climate, enhanced monitoring and strong collaboration between the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) and taxpayers, he said.
Mr Majaliwa said TRA notably exceeded its own target during this period collecting 19.62tri/-, surpassing its 17.18tri/- target at 101.4 per cent.
Ministries, independent departments, agencies and government institutions collected 2.05tri/- (87.1 per cent of their 2.36tri/- goal), while Local Government Authorities exceeded their 892.38bn/- target by collecting 903.89bn/- (101.3 per cent).
