Opposition party ACT-Wazalendo: Assess impact of coronavirus
Party leader Zitto Kabwe
What you need to know:
The party has directed its National Executive Committee to pass a resolution calling on the government to do the assessment
Dar es Salaam. The opposition party ACT-Wazalendo will ask the government to assess economic impact of coronavirus - and set up strategies to mitigate the effects.
The party directed its National Executive Committee (Nec) to pass a resolution asking the government to do the assessment. The directives were given yesterday by party leader Zitto Kabwe when addressing Nec members in Dar es Salaam.
The meeting was also expected to endorse names of members vying for various leadership positions in the ongoing intra-party elections. Mr Kabwe - who doubles as Kigoma Urban Member of Parliament (MP) - said the party should resolve and demand the assessment and a preparedness to tackle a possible outbreak of the deadly disease. He said the disease was dangerous for developing countries with unstable health systems, saying ‘prevention was better than cure.’ “The impact of coronavirus will be seen in the government’s revenue. It is important for us to assess the impact of the virus on our economy to be made and set strategies to safeguard the economy,” he said.
He said how the spread of coronavirus could affect the economy is a question that is overlooked.
According to him, China exports ten percent of services and goods, cautioning that the impacts of the disease on the world economy would be very huge.
“Tanzania could be seriously affected through foreign exchange generated from the tourism sector, as well as tax revenue from goods imported from China that account for 27 percent of all imports,” he said. According to figures from the ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Tanzania earned $2.4 billion from 1.5 million tourist arrivals last year. The amount could seriously plunge if assessment would not come up with appropriate measures to control the impacts.
Mr Kabwe said in 2019, Tanzania imported $10 billion-worth of commodities, with imports worth $2.68 billion from China alone.
Furthermore, he said, imports tax revenues significantly contributed to government’s tax revenue by 40 percent.
Opening the meeting, the deputy ACT chairman (Mainland), Mr Shaban Mambo, said the amended party constitution should have powers to transform the country’s economy and bring about sustainable development.
