Tanzania forecasts slower GDP growth in 2022, pick-up next year

Nchemba said in a speech to parliament that the economy was forecast to grow 4.7% in 2022 and 5.3% a year later, compared with a 4.9% expansion in 2021. In November, the finance ministry had forecast the economy would grow 5.2% this year.

Tanzania's economy is forecast to grow by a slightly slower pace this year before picking up in 2023, Finance Minister Mwigulu Nchemba said on Tuesday.

Tanzania's economy is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, which hit sectors like tourism hard. But the recovery has been affected by the war in Ukraine, which sent prices for commodities such as wheat and oil soaring. Themba said in a speech to parliament that the economy was forecast to grow 4.7% in 2022 and 5.3% a year later, compared with a 4.9% expansion in 2021.

In November, the finance ministry had forecast the economy would grow 5.2% this year. Nchemba said the country's projected economic expansion would be supported by projects including 970 km (600 miles) of standard gauge railway, three hydroelectric plants with a total of 2,695 megawatts of capacity and the construction of more than 2,500 km of roads.

The government of President Samia Suluhu Hassan is also trying to grow the mining industry after her predecessor's government ended a long-running tax dispute with Barrick Gold .