Tanzania joins middle income status ahead of schedule

What you need to know:

Records show that Tanzania cemented its position of achieving this status in 2017 according to a briefing by the Finance Minister Dr Phillip Mpango in 2019 but was only declared a middle income country on July 1, 2020

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania was on Wednesday July 1 declared a middle income country, a feat that has been achieved five years ahead of schedule.

 President Magufuli responding to the World Bank announcement congratulated Tanzanians on the new achievement.

“I congratulate all my compatriots for this historic achievement. We had envisaged to achieve this status by 2025 but, with strong determination this has been possible in 2020,” the President wrote in a tweet.

Tanzania enters into that bracket of middle-income countries with a GNI per capita between US$1,006 and US$3,955 per World Bank 2018 classification.

Tanzania last year recorded economic growth of 7 per cent making it one of the fastest growing economies in Africa.

Tanzania which is the second largest economy in East Africa and among the top 10 in Africa joins Kenya as the second East Africa Community member state in the middle-income strata.

The World Bank Gross defines MICs as those countries whose  National Incomes have crossed $1006 mark.

Records show thatTanzania cemented its position of achieving this status in 2017 but was only declared a middle income country on July 1, 2020