AS the National budget session is going on in parliament in Dodoma, the Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI) has commended the government’s move for presenting a relative good budget for 2012/13 fiscal year which according to them will stimulate economic growth and creation of employment. The CTI Chairman, Felix Mosha told a press conference recently in Dar es Salaam that, his institution is happy as the budget has given the priority to the strengthening of the Central Railway line which provides easy transportation of industrial goods especially bulk cargo in the country. “The railway services had deteriorated due to numerous untold reasons, and the most appropriate one was due to lack of strategic investor to run the entire operations smoothly, an aspect that caused the economy to paralyze to a greater extent resulting into high inflation rate”, he said. CTI has also appreciated the government’s move for allocating adequate funds for the construction of the natural gas pipeline from Mtwara to Dar es Salaam so that the same could be utilized for electricity generation to bridge the present gap so as to meet the ever growing demand electricity for industries and other consumers. The institution has also thanked the government for increasing Pay as You Earn (PAYE) threshold from Sh. 135,000 to Sh. 170,000, saying that the move will enhance take home income of employees to meet ever increasing costs of living. Despite of the crucial priority areas that aimed at boosting national economy, on the other way round CTI notes that the budget lacks strategic linkage between sectors of economy. “There is no link between agricultural and industrial sectors which are crucial in transforming the economy from a low to high level of development”, he said. However, he noted in the area of textile sector which makes major contributions to the economic growth especially, in creating employment, foreign exchange and poverty reduction as it requires immediate rehabilitation given that out of 16 textile industries which existed before, only 4 which are currently in operation countrywide. Elaborating in this, he noted that, one of the main reasons which have contributed to the poor performance of the textile industrial sector is unfair competition from imported textile products through under invoicing and under declaration.
An official of the Confederation of Tanzania Industruies (CTI) stresses a point during a press conference in Dar es Salaam. Seated at the centre is the CTI Chairman Felix Mosha.
He has recommended that, during the discussions on the budget in coming parliament sessions for every ministry, the CTI boss has suggested that, in order to make Tanzania’s textile industries to survive, the government through the Ministry of Trade and Industries should stick on the removal of VAT on textile and textile products. Other measures to be taken as per his recommendations are the reduction of skills and development levy from 6 percent to 2 percent respectively, others are the reduction of excise duty rate between 25 to 20 percent on non-petroleum products including beer, soft drinks, wine and cigarettes 12 percent to address the high inflation rate, and the reduction of excise duty of Sh. 69 per litter of water to Sh. 8 similar to locally produced fruits juices. An economic expert who is also the committee chairman of the CTI tax body said in an exclusive interview that, there is no way for the government to reduce the high inflation rate in the country if it wouldn’t concentrate effectively in the railway and road infrastructure as these are the main transport link which serves for industrial goods from their manufacturing points. Pankaj Kumar who is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the ALAF Limited, manufacturers of modern iron sheets in the country noted that, Tanzania is lucky enough to have a good railway network and energy sources such as gas, if these would be put in proper use, the country would increase its economy as there will be enough availability of power and good transport.
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