Tanzania May Beat 6% Growth Forecast for 2011-12, Bank Says

Tanzania will reach its forecast economic growth of 6 percent for fiscal 2011-12 and may even surpass the figure, the Bank of Tanzania said.

The forecast for the 12 months through June is based on “the performance of most leading indicators in the fourth quarter of 2011,” the central bank said in an e-mailed statement today from Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital. “GDP for the first three quarters of 2011 is estimated to have grown by 6.3 percent, exceeding 6.0 percent projected for 2011.”

The bank expects East Africa’s second-biggest economy to maintain “strong momentum” in the first half of 2012, assuming “good weather combined with return to normal of hydro power generation, which will steer further economic activities in agriculture and industry,” according to the statement.

The International Monetary Fund may raise its current forecasts for 6 percent growth in Tanzania in 2011 and 6.7 percent in 2012 on the increased availability of power, John Wakeman-Linn, the Fund’s Dar es Salaam-based representative, said a Feb. 28 interview.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Malingha Doya in Dar es Salaam at dmalingha@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net