Author: Salum Mohamed

President John Magufuli on 1^st May said there would be no pay rise for civil servants this year – the fourth time he addressed Workers` Day without salary increment – defending the position as meant to avoid inflation.

Addressing at the International Labour Day which was observed at the national level in Mbeya city in the Mbeya Region, the Head of State said his first priority is to build the economy, expressing optimism that development projects being implemented now shall warrant increments in future.

`I know you expected to hear me announce a pay rise. If I do that today, tomorrow transport and everything else will go up. Please be patient, ` the president appealed.

Prior to his address, the social media was awash with predictions that after celebrating three previous Workers` Day without announcing the sweet news, the president would not end his speech without the declaration of …

An uptick in diplomatic ties between Tanzania and Israel has started to bear socio-economic fruits, the Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said.

The premier who saw off 274 tourists on the Israeli Airlines plane at the Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) over the weekend, pleaded  with the visitors to serve as Tanzania`s ambassadors back home.

Over 1,000 tourists from Israel were since April 20, this year, in the northern tourism circuit to sample various attractions in Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

The first group of the tourists left on Friday night, the second, which was seen off by the Premier, flew on Saturday afternoon, the third on Saturday evening and the last on Saturday night.

Majaliwa invited members of the business community from Israel to invest in the tourism sector in the natural-resource rich Tanzania. He further asked the Israelis to consider coming back to visit Rubondo, Katavi and Ruaha …

It has been by AviaDev event, in conjunction with partners, MIDAS Aviation and Futureneers Advisors, that the estimated potential revenue from new African aviation routes could yield $29 billion in direct revenue.

This revenue, which is more than the individual GDP’s of 70% of the countries in Africa, could be realized if the largest airports in each African country are connected with one another. Currently, only 33.7% of this huge market is served, meaning that there is over $19 billion in untapped annual revenue.

Now in its fourth year, AviaDev, brings together airports, airlines, tourism bodies, and suppliers and customizes one-to-one meetings so that new partnerships and routes can be created. AviaDev’s managing director, Jon Howell, unveiled the event’s mission: to connect the largest airports in each African country with one another. He stated: “AviaDev aims to challenge the status quo through encouraging disruptive thinking. We believe our new mission …

That will be decided during the forthcoming African Union meeting slated to take place in the next three months, according to the officials who gathered in Arusha on Thursday 25^th April, 2019.

The proposed African Continental Free Trade Area is not simply a `Free Trade Agreement` it is about establishing a unified continental market with 1.2 billion potential customers and where the private sector is the major engine to make it happen.

This was the tone from the discussions of the meeting held in Arusha about how the East African Private Sector including Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) could benefit from the African Continental Free Trading Area (AfCFTA)

The one-day meeting, organized jointly by the East African Business Council (EABC) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), convened close to 40 key players from the region`s private sector. The office for Eastern Africa of ECA estimates large …

The serene rural Tanzanian landscape has wowed more than 1000 tourists from Israel who have just concluded their week-long tour of the country, leaving them planning for more future visits to explore the beauty of the country further.

The visitors from the Middle East have also expressed their admiration of the friendly attitude shown by the Tanzanians who they said were easy to make acquaintance with, noting that Israel stands a good chance of investing in cultural tourism.

The tour guide and leader of the group, Hagit Geffen stated they were surprised by the Tanzanians way of life as most of them seem to live in rural areas far away from towns and cities, and still the government manages to reach out to all these places, providing electricity, water and other essential services.

One of the tourists in the group observed that while back home in Israel people live in …

Members of East Africa`s private sector including small and medium size enterprises are preparing to exploit the over Tshs.2.7 trillion ($1.2 billion) continental market after endorsement of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA).

At their meeting in Arusha on Thursday 25^th April,2019, members of East Africa Business Council (EABC) who teamed up with United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) said they foresee large potential gains from the AfCFTA, including an increase in intra-African exports of Eastern Africa by nearly Tshs.2.3 trillion ($1 billion) and job creation of 0.5 to 1.9 million

`Together African economies have a collective gross domestic product (GDP) of $2.5 trillion, making it the 8<sup>th</sup> largest economy in the world. That makes the continent much more attractive to investment, both from within and from outside the continent, ` said Andrew Mold, the acting Director of ECA in Eastern Africa.`This should encourage business people to …

The Tanzanian government on 24^th April, 2019 released Tshs.688.65 billion ($299.4 million) in advance payment to the contractor of the 2,100 MegaWatts (MW)Rufiji Hydroelectric power project ahead of the start of the construction in June.

To be implemented jointly by Arab Contractors and Elsewedy Electric Company the project is now in mobilization stage which includes setting up of enabling infrastructure such as houses, roads and water prior to its official commencement.

Speaking during the handing over event, the Treasury Permanent Secretary Doto James said that payment was part of an estimated Tshs.6.5 trillion ($3 billion) to be wholly funded by the government.

`The issuance of the advance payment marks a crucial milestone towards commencement of the implementation of the project which upon completion will play a pivotal role towards realization of Tanzania`s industrialization strategy and attainment of middle income status by 2025, ` he declared.

The project will …

The Tanzanian government is finalizing plans for the establishment of e-border management control system aimed at improving security at border points and increase revenues.

In the ongoing parliament meetings, the Minister for Home Affairs, Kangi Lugola told the lawmakers that the new system will be operational from July 2019. He also noted that the government will in the 2019/2020 start using e-passport permit and e-visa in all Tanzanian embassies outside the country.

Tabling the 2019/2020 ministerial budget estimates, the minister said the electronic immigration services has shown great success both locally and internationally, citing recent recognition of Tanzanian passport by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)

The minister said asked the Parliament to approve Tshs.921.2 billion ($400.2 million) for the 2019/2020 financial year whereby Tshs.889.3 million ($386,652) is for recurrent expenditure and Tshs.372.2 billion ($161.8 million) for other expenses and Tshs.517 billion ($224 million) is for salaries.

He said Tshs.31.9 …

The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) report on Tanzania’s economic status was one-sided.

Finance and Planning Minister, Dr Phillip Mpango opened up on April 23, 2019 detailing why the government did not give IMF the green light to publish the content.

Responding after the matter was raised in the National Assembly, Dr Mpango said that the go-ahead was not given because opinions given by government experts after reading the first draft were not included in the final report.

“The IMF team was in the country from November 26 to December 7 last year. After preparing the draft I received on March 18 and we gave opinions that should have been accommodated in the final report but that did not happen,” the minister said.

Dr Mpango noted that during his recent visit to Washington DC for the 2019 spring meetings organized by the World Bank and IMF, he held talks on the …

Tobacco growing in Tanzania may get a boost if plans by the government to increase sales are successful.

The Tanzanian government is planning to initiate talks with the member states of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) to seek markets for tobacco in those countries.

Data indicates that in 2017, tobacco brought in more foreign exchange to the country than coffee, cotton, tea, cloves and sisal combined.

However, tobacco production fell considerably over the third quarter of 2018, dropping by a third of the previous quarter’s performance.

The setback was that Tanzania’s tobacco was sold at high prices in other countries because of charging high tax, compared to the same tobacco from Uganda and Kenya.

The country is in talks with Egypt and Algerian ambassadors to Tanzania to prepare bilateral agreements that would enable reduced tax on Tanzania’s tobacco to be sold in those countries in …