WITH two years left for the National Development Vision of 2025 to conclude, the government is pleased with the success registered in economic growth, including entering lower-middle income status.
During the implementation of the current vision, the nation managed to increase the rate of economic growth by an average of 6 per cent and reduced poverty by more than 9 per cent from 35.7 per cent in 2000/2001 to 24.6 per cent in 2017/2018
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Dr Natu Mwamba said this during the launch event of the preparation process for the National Development Vision 2050 held in Dodoma, yesterday
Dr Natu said that maternal and child mortality in the country decreased from 854 deaths per 100,000 births and 99 deaths per 1,000 births respectively in 2000, to 524 deaths per 100,000 births and 36 deaths per 1,000 births respectively in 2020
She noted that the admission rate of primary school pupils in the country has increased from 58.8 per cent in 2000 to 95.7 in 2020, adding that water availability has increased from 50 per cent in 2000 to 86.7 per cent in 2020 in urban areas and 55 per cent in 2000 to 72.3 per cent in 2020 in rural areas.
The Permanent Secretary added that through the 2025 Vision, the access to electricity in rural areas has risen and reached 69.8 per cent in 2020
“In a period of 22 years, the government has been implementing the 2025 development vision that was launched in 1999 and provided direction and images of the nation’s development for 25 years that is from 2000 to 2025,” the PS said.
She further added that the vision focused on improving the living conditions of Tanzanians; the existence of peace, security and unity; good governance and the rule of law; the existence of well – educated and learning society; and building a strong and competitive economy
According to Dr Natu, when the implementation of Vision 2025 began, the country was going through many economic changes, including the implementation of some of the conditions of international financial institutions for poor and heavily indebted countries
She said that the procedure required the countries to implement the conditions so that they can get loans and aid as well as prepare poverty reduction strategic papers, where Tanzania prepared National Strategy for Growth and Poverty Reduction (MKUKUTA I) from June 2000 to July 2003
The National Development Vision 2025 has been implemented through various Programmes and The Long-Term Perspective Plan 2011/12 – 2025/26, whose implementation was divided into three phases of the Five-Year National Development Plans.
The First Five-Year National Development Plan –2011/12 – 2015/16 had a theme of unleashing growth potentials by de-bottlenecking binding constraints to growth, while Second Five-Year National Development Plan 2016/17 – 2020/21 focused on nurturing industrialisation for economic transformation and human development.
The Third and final Five-Year National Development Plan 2021/22 – 2025/26 is carrying a theme of realising competitiveness and industrialisation for human development that aims to increase efficiency and productivity in manufacturing using the resources available in abundance within the country
According to her, the nation maintained adequate levels of foreign exchange reserves as well as sustainable national debt and a stable financial system, despite having a global pandemic of Covid-19 that affected economies of various countries in the world.
On the other hand, Dr Natu noted that preparation for 2050 National Development Vision includes the evaluation of the implementation of 2025 Vision, which is important in classifying the achievements, implementation steps and challenges that emerged during the implementation of the vision
“The results of the Vision 2025 evaluation will be used as one of information for the implementation of Vision 2050,” she said.
She said that the preparation of 2050 vision will focus on the initial preparation, review, design, analysis and writing of the vision as well as the approval, launch and distribution of the vision.
“The vision drafting team has 17 members and the reviewing team has 14 members …the team members are experienced experts and professionals in various fields from the government, private sector, civil society, high learning and research institutions,” Dr Natu said.
