Key issues as new fiscal year gets underway

Dodoma. With Tanzanians stepping into the new financial year at the weekend, analysts remain optimistic that the Sh41.48 trillion budget - which the Parliament approved last week - contains several provisions that will raise living standards in the country.

Those who spoke to The Citizen said through the revenue and expenditure plan, the government managed to strike a balance between improving public servants’ welfare and on one side and pumping enough funds into people-centered-projects which would ultimately ease their costs of living.

They say by pumping at least Sh15.52 trillion into development projects, the government was not only trying to maintaining the country’s growth tempo, but it was also determined to ensure that a common man benefits through the trickle-down effect of the projects being implemented and through creation of employment opportunities for the masses.

“So in short, the budget seeks to maintain the growth tempo….A lot of issues have been maintained but much more funds going to stimulate agricultural production,” an economist from the College of Business Education, Mr Nasibu Mramba, told Mwananchi.

This year’s priority areas, as outlined by the Minister for Finance and Planning, Dr Mwigulu Nchema, include agriculture, water, health, energy, education, livestock, and fisheries as well as construction and communications.

The government has raised the budget for the Ministry of Agriculture by nearly three-fold. It rose from Sh294 billion in 2021/2022 to Sh751 billion, which has revived the fading hope of achieving the Malabo resolution. Adopted at the African Union Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea in June 2014, African Heads of State and Government agreed to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation for shared prosperity and improved livelihoods by 2025.

Out of the money, Sh631.5 billion which is about 84 percent of the ministry’s budget will finance the implementation of development projects, with a staggering Sh361.5 billion going to finance irrigation projects. This was a massive increase from Sh46.5 billion that went into irrigation during the last financial year. According to the Prime Minister, Kassim Majaliwa, the government’s goal was to raise agricultural sector growth by 10 percent by 2030, which in turn will raise the country’s exports from $1.2 billion to $5 billion by 2030.

The government is also keen to reduce poverty by more than 50 percent from 28 percent now to less than 14 percent in2025.

Therefore, the government has set Sh268.25 billion, for the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries’ budget, out of which, more than three-quarters of the budget is for development projects, of which modern animal husbandry will be a priority. More funds have been allocated for the Ministry of Energy (Sh2.9 trillion), whereby 97 percent of the funds is directed to the ministry’s development projects, this includes energy production, transmission, and distribution.

Also, the government has allocated funds for the famous Standard-Gauge Railway (SGR), other funds will be used to purchase a new state-of-the-art vessel for Lake Victoria, the construction of bridges and roads so as enable farmers to transport agricultural products. In the health sector, the government is set to complete the construction of 99 hospitals, as well as the construction of at least 38 new hospitals and the completion of 564 dispensaries.

In her aim to easing the availability of water at the household level, Samia’s government has set aside at least Sh709 billion, and for education, the government has set Sh1.49 trillion has been allocated compared to Sh1.38 trillion allocated in 2021/2022.

According to the Chairman to the Parliamentary Committee on Budget, Mr Daniel Sillo, the approved budget showed that the government had a genuine towards its citizens saying: “The move to abolish a proposed tax of Sh20 to be paid by retailers, is a relief to local people.”