Private sector: How Tanzania can attain Vision 2050

Dar es Salaam. With the drawing up of National Development Vision 2025 in top gear, members of the business community have suggested ways of propelling Tanzania to the next level of development.

Proposals put forward during a consultative forum held in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday include investing in innovation and technology to enable the country improve efficiency and its competitiveness globally.

Other suggestions outlined by Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) chief executive Raphael Maganga are promoting a strong digital economy, empowering businesses and ensuring that Tanzanians play a central role in innovation in Africa and elsewhere.

“We must build a Tanzania that is premised on innovation and technology. We are looking forward to a Tanzania where businesses invest in advanced research and technology,” he said.

Sustainable and inclusive growth and the vision of economic growth should not be measured by financial standards only, but also in the improvement of the quality of Tanzanians’ lives, Mr Maganga added.

“This vision should enable us to create an environment in which growth benefits all citizens. We need growth that is translated into quality education and health services and opportunities for Tanzanians, irrespective of their backgrounds.”

Mr Maganga further noted that infrastructure and digital advancement are critical components of an economy whose key goals include innovation.

In addition to roads and bridges, the government needs to put in place digital pathways that connect communities with one another and the rest of the world and ensure prosperity for all Tanzanians.

Mr Maganga also touched on the need to conserve the environment as a basis for sustainable economic development.

“Vision 2050 includes a sustainable development model that protects our environment and biodiversity, thus maintaining Tanzania’s natural beauty for future generations,” he said.

Vision 2050 also seeks to promote good governance and the rule of law and create a transparent, responsible and investment-friendly environment governed by a strong legal system that enables the private sector to thrive and contribute significantly to the nation’s prosperity.

Mr Maganga said Tanzania has witnessed steady economic growth, social development and infrastructural development in the last few decades and this has laid a solid foundation for the journey towards 2050.

He added that as the nation focuses on the new period of development, it is important to think about the journey towards Vision 2025, which has seen the economy grow by an average of six percent annually since 2000, making Tanzania among Africa’s fastest growing economies.

Economic output, which was $13.38 billion in 2000, reached $85.42 billion in 2023, indicating that economic policies are having the desired results.

Vision 2025 made it possible to increase per capita income to Sh2,844,641 by 2022 from Sh1,621,445 in 2013 and below Sh1 million in 2000, Mr Maganga said.

The value of exports in 2000 was $733 million compared to $7.7 billion in 2023, representing a tenfold increase.

“We had food shortages 20 years ago, but today we are talking about exporting food because we have surplus,” he added.

The infrastructure of 20 years ago pales in comparison with what Tanzania has today, with the government investing heavily in roads, railways and aviation. This has played a key role in facilitating business and opening up opportunities for Tanzanians.

Mr Maganga noted, however, that despite great strides made in recent decades, poverty is still widespread, with reports indicating that 49 percent of Tanzanians are living on less than $1.90 a day.

This is largely due to slow growth of production in labour-intensive industries and limited investment in productive sectors such as agriculture, which employs 77 percent of Tanzanians of working age.

The director of national planning in the Planning Commission, Mr Mursali Milanzi said Tuesday’s meeting was part of the process of preparing Vision 2050 and the commission has begun sensitising citizens and other stakeholders so that they can participate in various ways.

“We, as the Planning Commission, have decided to collaborate with the private sector to discuss how Vision 2050 will be formulated for the benefit of our country,” said Mr Milanzi, who represented the commission’s executive secretary, Mr Lawrence Mafuru.

He added that the government recognises and appreciates the contribution of the private sector, including employing a significant portion of Tanzanians and its use of technology in production and service delivery.

“It is important that the private sector participates in order to provide us with ideas that will help us implement the next 25-year national development plan. We have implemented Vision 2025 to a large extent and have done well in various areas. That is why we are now a lower middle-income economy,” Mr Milanzi said.

“We have seen Tanzania’s economy grow by six percent annually over the years. This is no mean feat, but we would still like to attain the highest level of economic growth in the next 25 years.”

Mr Milanzi listed some of the challenges the government faced during implementation of Vision 2025 as limited skills, the global Covid-19 pandemic and the war between Russia and Ukraine, which has disrupted global supply chains.

“We therefore want to build our country so that it will be able to withstand such challenges,” he said.

 TradeMark Africa country director Elibariki Shammy said Tanzania should prioritise developments in technology, integration and climate change in Vision 2025.

The country should also build on previous achievements such as reforms and strive to make them work for integrated systems.

“We should look at how we can grow exports and develop skills in addition to focusing on the regulatory environment, technology and value chains,” Mr Shammy said.

He added that Tanzania should also look at inclusive and resilient trade, quality of traded goods, digital trade and green trade.