Kikwete: Abject poverty looms despite good economic growth

DANIEL SEMBERYA AND
ELIAS MHEGERA

PRESIDENT Jakaya Kikwete yesterday declared that the
country still faced the challenge of promoting economic growth
to reduce surging poverty levels that were still prevalent despite
the impressive growth rates achieved so far.
In his address to the nation through the Parliament, the
President addressed several key areas that covered the state of
the economy, Union matters, the issue of Muafaka, corruption,
leadership code, judiciary, and women integration in the
political process. He said some of the challenges to economic
growth were due to natural catastrophes and shortages that
were not anticipated before. “The noise that the public
is making about increased costs of living is not out of the blue,
it is justifiable,” said President Kikwete, who acknowledged
the difficult economic and social conditions people were now
facing. He outlined the factors that had led to these conditions
as including the energy crisis that had brought about sharp
increases of oil prices and the 2006 drought that hit the
country hard, leading to scarcity of electricity. The President
also hinted at other economic challenges like global inflation,
which, he said, had been on the increase since the fourth phase
government came to power. More...


[SOURCE: BUSINESSTIMES]

INFLATION & CONSUMER PRICE INDICES: JAN - JUL 2008

I recently posted an article titled Tanzania inflation surges to 9.5% on the forum. That is obviously a very high rate, and according to some anonymous sources, the actual inflation may be even higher than that as the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS is apparently usually under political pressure from the government to play around with the figures so as to ensure the inflation is as small as they can report it, with the main target being keeping the rate under double figures always. So if the claims are indeed true, the actual inflation should be at least 10%; maybe even 11%!! This is very alarming for investors in the financial markets because the wighted YTM of 364-day T-Bill is only 11.50% whereas the total YTM for the 35-, 91-, 182- and 364- days T-Bills is 9.86%.

I extracted the following table of CPI and inflation development for Jan-Jul 2008 from the NBS website

(Click on the image to enlarge)


What do you think are the courses for such high inflation rates and what should we do to control the inlfation?

Tanzania inflation surges to 9.5%

2008-08-19 10:05:58
By DAR ES SALAAM

Tanzania`s annual inflation rate rose to 9.5 percent in July from 9.3 percent in June, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.

``The increase ... was mainly attributed to increase of food, petrol, diesel, kerosene and charcoal prices over the period,`` the NBS said in a statement on its website.

Other items that contributed to the higher rate included rent, beds, chairs, tables, domestic services, taxi fares, school uniforms and hotel accommodation, the statement said.

``However,prices of maize grain, maize flour, vegetables, clothing and footwear had slightly gone down,`` the bureau said.

Food contributes a weight of 55.9 percent in the east African economy`s basket of goods used to measure inflation.

Tanzania`s national consumer price index covers market prices for 207 items collected in 20 towns in mainland Tanzania.


[SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN]

Cost of living likely to ease just before year end

2008-08-18 09:23:22
By Perege Gumbo

A slew of ongoing global and domestic economic events are most certainly set to rekindle an optimism that the cost of living, now harshly stinging, will ease before end of this year.

It will be a reversal of what has been happening over the last three years of skyrocketing oil and food crises, to the extent of forcing consumers to radically change their spending patterns, while investors have come to re-adjust their production schedules to accommodate rising costs.

However, reading signs at the world commodity markets, oil prices which had increased to the tune of USD147.27 a barrel in July declined to USD112.72 by the end of last week.

More...


[SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN]

Inflation takes over as public enemy

2008-08-02 09:47:38
By Theo Mushi

The inflation rate now stands at 9.7 percent up from 9.4 percent last month and nearly double what it was in 2006 at 5.7 per cent.

The food inflation is above 11 per cent and in the near future it will rise even further.

In 1995, headline inflation was above 30 percent and a combination of tight monetary policy and fiscal discipline brought down the inflation rate to 4.5 per cent in 2004.

With stable exchange rates, low and stable prices, it made business planning predictable and hence the improvement of the investment climate.

A better investment climate and a combination of business friendly bureaucracy, better physical infrastructure and investment promotion were expected to increase local and foreign investment.

[Source: GUARDIAN]