MASSIVE COTTON CROP
Although final figures were not available at time of going to press it is apparent that the 1990 – 1991 cotton crop has been the highest in nearly three decades. By November 11th the Tanganyika Cotton Marketing Board had collected some 458,000 bales and the General Manager of the Board, Mr Timothy Shindika, said that the total could reach 500,000 bales.
PRIVATE SECTOR EXPORTS UP
Businessmen in the private sector exported goods worth US$ 169.34 million in the 1989/90 and 1990/91 financial years, the Minister of State in the President’s office , Prof Kighoma Malima, has announced. This was, he said, 19% above the target.
The Professor went on to say that the Investment Promotion Centre had so far approved 22 projects from foreign investors, 53 joint ventures and 97 others from local entrepreneurs. 47% of the projects were in the industrial sector, 17% in agriculture, 15% in tourism, 10% in natural resources, and 6% in transportation – Daily News
FIRST SOUTH AFRICAN PLANE
The Daily News reported in its November 1st issue that a South African Airways (SAA) plane was expected in Dar es Salaam – the first flight to the country since Tanzania’s independence. The plane came to collect more than 100 exiles living in Tanzania.
Meanwhile, the Business Times, in a front page article quoting the Director General of the Board of External Trade, wrote that Tanzania was running out of time to penetrate the important South African import/export market. Others were reported to have said that, as late comers, Tanzania could find most of the trade and economic opportunities taken up by competitors. Tanzania, unlike other SADCC countries , was said to be placing politics above economic realities.
SIDA AND USAID UNHAPPY
Representatives of two donor agencies have been making some surprisingly critical remarks recently.
The Swedish Development Agency’s Head of Development Cooperation, Mr Bo Westman, announced in September that SIDA was temporarily blocking funds meant for development activities in Tanzania, pending publication of all grants in public accounts and explanations on the ‘misallocation of funds by the Treasury to unintended projects’.
And the outgoing Director of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Mr Jo Stepanek, in a ‘Monograph on Tanzania’s Development’ stated that ‘the corrosive forces of population growth and public corruption are severely undercutting Tanzania’s ability to produce and to govern. Donor dependence sustains the elite as it threatens sovereignty’.