IN MY HUMBLE OPINION: Are we really a donor country? Numbers don’t lie

Based on the assumption that countries generally provide aid to those poorer than themselves, Tanzania could assist 28 countries that come after it on the GDP per capita list, notably South Sudan (last on the list, GDP/capital is 301 percent less than Tanzania’s), or Rwanda (167th, 34 percent less). But this is where this approach started raising doubts in my mind if at all it was the correct approach to being identified as a ‘donor country’ because by the same token, Zambia (154th, 18 percent more) could provide aid to Tanzania, as could South Africa (89th, 453 percent more). For long, Tanzania has been a recipient of aid, but from donors significantly wealthier than itself or even South Africa. Our donors have included Switzerland (2nd, 7483 percent more), the United States (7th, 5798 percent more) and Sweden (12th, 4541 percent more).

Maybe our wealth is not Tanzania’s actual level of wealth, but say, the “immense” revenues that would come from the exploitation of Tanzania’s massive natural gas reserves. So another Google search surfaced an article in The East African, September 28, 2017: “… Tanzania has 57 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of largely undeveloped and proven natural gas reserves, from which it expects to reap close to $5 billion annually in gas exports revenue …” So how much would $5 billion annually add to the GDP? Here again I turned to a bit of help at hand to an economist, who pointed out that, based on Tanzania’s population level, $5 billion would have added a “mere” $86.20 to GDP per capita. The addition of this amount would not have shifted Tanzania in the rankings by a single position, it seems.