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OECD 1999
Country Programme Evaluations Workshop: The Case of Tanzania
increased activity in domestic and foreign private investment. Overall, however,
Tanzania showed a decline in investments from 19.6% in 1996 to 18.2% in 1997. In
order for Tanzania to achieve the desired GDP growth rates of 6 to 8%, investment
levels will need to rise to between 30 and 40% of GDP.
Politics
Tanzania is a multi-party State with a President and the National Assembly
elected by adult suffrage every five years. The National Assembly has
269 members, 37 of whom are women participating by appointment. Zanzibar has a
House of Representatives of 59 members, with appointed women.
Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) is the ruling party with the President as Chairman.
Other political parties include the Civic United Front (CUF); the National Convention
for Construction and Reform (NCCR-Mageuzi); Chama cha Demokrasia na
Maendeleo (Chadema) and the United Democratic Party (UDP).
Since the first multi-party elections in 1995, political tolerance has been exacerbated
with Zanzibar’s situation escalating to a point of crisis needing external
intervention. The weaknesses and divisions within the opposition parties have hindered
possibilities for fundamental changes on the political scene after the next
elections in year 2000.
International donors and Bretton Woods institutions continue to put pressure
on the government to stamp out corruption, which is known to be endemic in all levels
of society. The IMF has identified three areas needing urgent attention: tax
administration and collection, business regulation, and privatisation.
Critical development issues
Poverty situation
Research has shown that about 59% of the Tanzanian population live below the
poverty line. The 1997 World Bank Development Report ranked Tanzania’s mainland
among the three poorest countries in the world with GNP per capita at USD120
in 1995. However, the 1997 UNDP Report indicated a per capita GDP based on purchasing
power parity using the country’s currency at USD656 in 1994.
Poverty in Tanzania is widespread in rural areas where 60% of the population
lives below the poverty line and 10% live in absolute poverty. They depend on agriculture
– made vulnerable by climatic uncertainty, poor tools, remoteness to markets,
infertile soils – as a main source of income, producing 42% of the food they
consume. Families are large and the dependency ratio is 1: 3 compared to 0.9 for
non-poor. Literacy levels are lower in rural areas than in urban areas.
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