Minister urges UK to help Tanzania improve trade balance

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The call was made on Friday September 22 by Finance and Planning Minister Philip Mpango, when speaking with five Members of Parliament from Britain, who are in the country since last Sunday.

Tanzania has called on the British government to strengthen trade and investment between the two countries for the former to improve its trade balance.

The call was made on Friday September 22 by Finance and Planning Minister Philip Mpango, when speaking with five Members of Parliament from Britain, who are in the country since last Sunday.

The minister said the move would help Tanzania strengthen its economy.

“It is high time we cemented our trade and investment relationship for us to improve a balance of trade, which currently favours Britain,” noted Dr Mpango.

Going by the 2015 data, the value of Tanzanian exports stood at $22.5 million (about Sh50.1 billion), well below the value of its imports, which stood at $150 million (about Sh334.5 billion), according to him.

“This is unacceptable…we need to change the form of cooperation if we are to narrow trade imbalance,” he insisted.

Dr Mpango called on Britain to come and invest in processing industries.

He also welcomed them to come and invest in tractor assembling industries and other agricultural inputs.

“However, the government commends its cooperation with Britain in other areas like education, health, food, among others, whose value stands at about Sh540 billion,” he noted.

Britain’s investment capital in all sectors of the country so far stands at about Sh7.5 trillion, according to Dr Mpango.

For his part, leader of the delegation from Britain David Linden commended Tanzania for economic development and the fight against corruption.

He also hailed the progress of the Britain-funded projects in the education sector.

“We are committed to continuing supporting the government of Tanzania so that it can realise its social and economic goals,” said Mr Linden.