The Khoisan
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- Jun 5, 2007
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radox: Dar`s economic growth amidst impoverishment
2008-12-08 11:05:48
By Sarah McGregor, IPS
Tanzania is lagging behind on key development goals for safe water, income and health, even though the east African nation has benefited from a growing economy over the last few years, according a newly released household budget survey.
Supported by budding financial markets, the proportion of Tanzania`s population living below the poverty line dropped to 33.3 percent last year from 35.7 percent in 2000/01, stated the 2007 survey, which was released by the country`s National Bureau of Statistics.
However, the number of people in Tanzania who have to survive on $1.10 a day or less has risen by one million to 12.7 million in the last six years.
Researchers have attributed this mainly to an annual population growth of 2.6 percent.
``It`s a bit of a shock that poverty has droped so little despite our efforts,`` said Monique Bergeron, chair of the poverty-monitoring group of foreign donors to Tanzania and a Canadian diplomat. \"Economic growth is moving in the right direction, yet poverty reduction is still marginal.``
Tanzania is one of Africa`s biggest recipients of development aid with almost 40 percent of the current 2008/09 budget funded by outside donors.
Foreign aid agencies are willing to invest into the country because of its political stability, attempts to crack down on corruption and sound fiscal reforms.
Economic growth in Tanzania, the third-biggest gold producer in Africa, reached about seven percent a year since 2001. Yet, the country remains one of the poorest in the world.
The United Nations Human Development Index, which measures a range of social and economic indicators, ranks Tanzania 159 out of 177 nations.
Poverty continues to be rife because progress in spreading Tanzania`s economic benefits has been uneven and many of the poorest citizens have seen little or no improvement in their quality of life, explained Dar es Salaam-based World Bank economist Paolo Zacchia.
Worst off are rural areas that are often cut off from services and other types of support, he said.
The household survey shows that Tanzania is not on track to achieving many of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), said Zacchia, which are a set of eight global benchmarks to curb poverty and hunger, increase maternal health, reduce child mortality, fight the spread of deadly diseases such as HIV, malaria and tuberculosis, create gender equality and environmental sustainability, all by 2015.
``The findings [of the survey] call in the question of the effectiveness of government policies to fight poverty and the international aid behind it,`` said Zacchia.
Tanzania will need decades of solid economic growth to help lift people from poverty and improve basic amenities, added Mugisha Kamugisha, commissioner for policy analysis in the finance ministry.
But a decade-long wait will be too late for Shaibu Hamade (50) a father of four, who earns the equivalent of $92 a month cleaning houses and doing laundry, and hardly makes a living.
He believes life in Tanzania is becoming tougher to survive with each year.
``I think, in most ways, life is getting harder,`` said Hamade. ``Prices are high. No one can afford even the basics, food and transport.``
The survey shows household incomes are low and the urban-rural gap is wide. Tanzania`s average per capita a month income last year was $31, compared to $27 in 2000/01.
Urban poor and rural workers spend 64 percent of their household incomes on feeding themselves, about the same rate as 2000/01.
Few Tanzanians are able to access basic services. Only 58 percent of residents of Tanzania`s biggest city Dar es Salaam, for example, were able to afford piped drinking water in 2007; down from 86 percent six years earlier.
Only one in ten Tanzanians have electricity -- the vast majority of them living in cities -- which has remained almost unchanged since 2000/01, the survey showed.
Instead, burning firewood and using kerosene lamps and stoves are the most common energy sources throughout the country.
SOURCE: Guardian
2008-12-08 11:05:48
By Sarah McGregor, IPS
Tanzania is lagging behind on key development goals for safe water, income and health, even though the east African nation has benefited from a growing economy over the last few years, according a newly released household budget survey.
Supported by budding financial markets, the proportion of Tanzania`s population living below the poverty line dropped to 33.3 percent last year from 35.7 percent in 2000/01, stated the 2007 survey, which was released by the country`s National Bureau of Statistics.
However, the number of people in Tanzania who have to survive on $1.10 a day or less has risen by one million to 12.7 million in the last six years.
Researchers have attributed this mainly to an annual population growth of 2.6 percent.
``It`s a bit of a shock that poverty has droped so little despite our efforts,`` said Monique Bergeron, chair of the poverty-monitoring group of foreign donors to Tanzania and a Canadian diplomat. \"Economic growth is moving in the right direction, yet poverty reduction is still marginal.``
Tanzania is one of Africa`s biggest recipients of development aid with almost 40 percent of the current 2008/09 budget funded by outside donors.
Foreign aid agencies are willing to invest into the country because of its political stability, attempts to crack down on corruption and sound fiscal reforms.
Economic growth in Tanzania, the third-biggest gold producer in Africa, reached about seven percent a year since 2001. Yet, the country remains one of the poorest in the world.
The United Nations Human Development Index, which measures a range of social and economic indicators, ranks Tanzania 159 out of 177 nations.
Poverty continues to be rife because progress in spreading Tanzania`s economic benefits has been uneven and many of the poorest citizens have seen little or no improvement in their quality of life, explained Dar es Salaam-based World Bank economist Paolo Zacchia.
Worst off are rural areas that are often cut off from services and other types of support, he said.
The household survey shows that Tanzania is not on track to achieving many of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), said Zacchia, which are a set of eight global benchmarks to curb poverty and hunger, increase maternal health, reduce child mortality, fight the spread of deadly diseases such as HIV, malaria and tuberculosis, create gender equality and environmental sustainability, all by 2015.
``The findings [of the survey] call in the question of the effectiveness of government policies to fight poverty and the international aid behind it,`` said Zacchia.
Tanzania will need decades of solid economic growth to help lift people from poverty and improve basic amenities, added Mugisha Kamugisha, commissioner for policy analysis in the finance ministry.
But a decade-long wait will be too late for Shaibu Hamade (50) a father of four, who earns the equivalent of $92 a month cleaning houses and doing laundry, and hardly makes a living.
He believes life in Tanzania is becoming tougher to survive with each year.
``I think, in most ways, life is getting harder,`` said Hamade. ``Prices are high. No one can afford even the basics, food and transport.``
The survey shows household incomes are low and the urban-rural gap is wide. Tanzania`s average per capita a month income last year was $31, compared to $27 in 2000/01.
Urban poor and rural workers spend 64 percent of their household incomes on feeding themselves, about the same rate as 2000/01.
Few Tanzanians are able to access basic services. Only 58 percent of residents of Tanzania`s biggest city Dar es Salaam, for example, were able to afford piped drinking water in 2007; down from 86 percent six years earlier.
Only one in ten Tanzanians have electricity -- the vast majority of them living in cities -- which has remained almost unchanged since 2000/01, the survey showed.
Instead, burning firewood and using kerosene lamps and stoves are the most common energy sources throughout the country.
SOURCE: Guardian
