Development partners say they are less confident about Tanzania

Development partners say they are less confident about Tanzania

The British High Commissioner to Tanzania Phillip Parham has said development partners feel less confident about Tanzania today than it was the case last year.

He said that the main concern of the developing partners include the need for the government to translate increased budget resources into concrete improvements in the lives of the poor people and demonstrate that it is really doing so.

Parham was addressing the launch of a high level Annual Review of Budget Support which was held in Dar es Salaam.

He said that there is need to strengthen accountability of the government to its key stakeholders, including action to combat corruption.

Parham said that for the confidence of development partners, potential investors and Tanzanian citizens, it is important that the government is seen to proactively address the allegations, investigate, explain where allegations are misconceived, and to prosecute where the evidence so warrants.

``We are waiting for the report of the current audit of the Bank of Tanzania external department management account and the government?s response, with keen interest`` he said.

Like wise, we are waiting for the results of the current PCCB investigations, and we will respond positively to requests for assistance, he added.

He said: ``Success is far from assured. We want to provide the extra support which is vital for Tanzania at this critical juncture, but it is a simple political fact that higher levels of financing from development partners requires higher levels of performances from the government,`` he noted.

The Minister for Finance, Zakia Meghji, said that GBS is a major source of financing for the implementation of the National strategy for growth and reduction of poverty.

She said that for the past few years, GBS has steadily increased from 274bn/- in 2002/03 to 804.5bn/- in 2006/07 and that the general budget support for 2007/08 is expected to amount to 881.3bn/-.

``The increasing amount of GBS and its growing share in total aid to Tanzania are signs of confidence that our GBS partners have in the government and its commitment to work towards achieving development goals by responsibly using the public resources for the purpose,`` she said.

She said that GBS has performed better than other aid modalities in terms of aid predictability.

The chairman of the Development Partners group on budget support, David Stanton, said that demands for government to demonstrate tangible improvements in the citizen?s lives seem more pressing today than ever before.

He said that large flows require greater capacity in the public service to work more efficiently, and to take robust action against corruption which wastes resources, deters investments and undermines public confidence.