The expected growth conflicts claims by some opposition members of parliament that the economy was headed for a recession.

 

"Based on various indicators and trends, it is evident that Tanzania's economy is in good shape, raising hopes of reaching the target of achieving an annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7.2 percent in 2016," said the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) in a statement.

 

BoT said in the statement that the expected "robust" economic growth in 2016 was underpinned by investments made by President John Magufuli in flagship infrastructure projects, an ongoing tax crackdown and the fight against corruption.

 

The BoT issued the statement following recent claims by some opposition figures, including ACT Wazalendo party leader Zitto Kabwe, suggesting that the economy has been plunged into crisis since Magufuli took office in last November.

 

The opposition leaders claimed that several privately-owned companies were being driven out of business, the Dar es Salaam port was experiencing a sharp fall in traffic, and thousands of jobs have been lost due to alleged "hostile" policies pursued by the new government.

 

They cited latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which showed that Tanzania's economic growth slowed down to 5.5 percent in the first quarter of 2016 compared with 5.7 percent in the same period last year, hurt by a slump in the core sectors of construction, transport and manufacturing.

 

NBS said the construction sector grew 4.3 percent between January and March, down from 23.2 percent a year ago due to low investment.

 

However, the BoT insisted that the slowdown of economic growth in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the same period last year was "nothing to worry about".

 

The BoT said the decline of economic growth in just one quarter is no indication of a slowing economic growth for the whole year. 

Source : news.xinhuanet.com