Nathan Belete, WB country director, said this in remarks to journalists in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday evening at the CEO Roundtable of Tanzania engagement meeting.
Betele commended the government’s move towards sustaining its economic growth at the CEOrt monthly engagement meeting themed ‘Tanzania’s outlook: A World Bank Perspective’ that brought over 100 business executives.
“We are very positive about the economic growth in Tanzania. The microeconomic situation is solid with a favourable GDP growth. This is the sign of positive future opportunities as the government focuses on collaborating with the private sector,” said Betele.
He said the World Bank has been working hand in hand with the government to set a stage for the conducive business doing environment for the private sector in terms of regulations and investment obligations alongside regular consultations between the two sides.
“The private sector therefore has to initiate responsible actions in terms of es- tablishing strong businesses, creating high quality jobs, creating value addition with- in the country as well as to ensure that there is open access for those willing to come and invest in Tanzania,” said Betele.
CEOrt Chairman David Tarimo said the recently released WB report states that for Tanzania to achieve a GDP growth of 6 to 7 percent there must be reforms in the country’s laws related to business and the private sector as a whole.
“The central aspect is to sustain the current economic growth with great focus on the private sector as the engine in driving this growth,” said Tarimo.
According to him, the private sector has a responsibility to come to table and discuss policy and regulations to fast truck issues such as timely payments to contractors and VAT refunds to manufacturers.
“The country’s population is growing fast and if we are to realize real per capita growth then we should regularly discuss improvement of issues related to the private sector prosperity,” said Tarimo.
Tanzania’s economy has shown resilience and recorded a modest post- pandemic recovery with gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 4.6 percent in 2022, according to the recent issue of the Tanzania Economic Update, a biannual report published by the World Bank.
The report highlights a number of key matters that are a priority in the short- and medium-term to maintain the country’s economic status.
These include strengthening capacity to further build resilience, supporting inclusive growth through the Private Sector, and enhancing the investment climate to attract both domestic and foreign investors.
With a substantial role to play in driving sustainable development and in light of the findings in the World Bank report, business leaders have unique insights to help frame ongoing efforts of improving the business environment to propel economic growth.
The thought leadership session is part of the CEOrt’s monthly engagements that incorporate valuable dialogue on topics critical to sustainable development, not just for the private sector but the nation as a whole.
The 18th edition of the Tanzania Economic Update advocates for provision of water supply, sanitation and hygiene services (WASH) to reduce Tanzania’s economic losses.
Beyond these recommendations, the CEOrt dialogue touched on opportunities for harnessing development funding to drive private sector growth, formalisation of the informal sector with insights on lessons learnt from parallel developing economies, strengthening of the dollar resulting in increased inflationary pressures and what it means for Tanzania as it relates to trade, trade financing and sovereign debt.
However, the role of the World Bank in supporting the government through prioritisation and harmonisation of policies for enhanced private sector competitiveness within the region and across Africa.
The CEOrt is keen at facilitating monthly engagements between business leaders and development partners to drive collaboration aimed at championing Tanzania’s prosperity.
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