World Bank Country Studies

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Country Studies are published with approval of the subject government to communicate the results of the Bank's work on the economic and related conditions of member countries to governments and to the development community. This series as been superseded by the World Bank Studies series.

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  • Publication
    Tanzania at the Turn of the Century : Background Papers and Statistics
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2002-02) Government of the United Republic of Tanzania; World Bank
    This report is the successor to the Country Economic Memorandum for Tanzania prepared in 1996 (World Bank 1996). The 1996 memorandum focused on the challenge of reforms and paid particular attention to the impact of reforms on growth, incomes, and welfare in Tanzania. The present report draws out lessons from Tanzania's development experience of the past four decades, with emphasis on the period since the last report, and assesses the imperatives for higher sustained growth and better livelihood for its citizens in the future. The background papers presented in this Country Study review and assess Tanzania's actual growth and poverty reduction performance against its large natural potential and against countries at a comparable stage of development, analyze the main reasons behind the performance record, and then draw out the strategic and institutional imperatives for exploiting the country's vast potential for sustained growth and reduction of poverty in the long and medium term. The analysis focuses on development of the private sector and its increased role in scaling up overall growth and modernization of the Tanzanian economy. One chapter focuses on the Zanzibar economy and its development, even though Zanzibar is part of the union, because the policy and institutional framework for the island are distinct enough to merit separate attention. Also presented are the statistical appendices.
  • Publication
    Tanzania at the Turn of the Century : From Reforms to Sustained Growth and Poverty Reduction
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2001-04) Government of the United Republic of Tanzania; World Bank
    The study builds on lessons from Tanzania's development experience of the past four decades, with emphasis on the period following the 1996 Country Economic Memorandum, which focused on the challenge of reforms, in particular the impact of reforms on growth, incomes, and welfare in the country. The study assesses Tanzania's current development status against the country's ambition, since independence, to rid the nation of three archenemies: poverty, ignorance, and disease. Structural transformation has been extremely limited, with agriculture still dominating the economy, a non-diversified economy that hampers flexibility to withstand shock occurrences. Nonetheless, the country intensified macroeconomic policy reforms, significantly stabilizing the economy, with falling inflation levels, climbing foreign exchange reserves, and an overall fiscal balance. But the main factors identified behind the slow development progress, are primarily inadequate capital accumulation, and productivity growth; poor support for the transformation of agriculture; disrupted progress in building human capital; and, delayed demographic transition. However, the steady progress in reorienting its economy to a market-based operation, is creating space for exploiting the large potential of private sector initiative. It is emphasized that growth will only be sustainable, if firmly rooted in exploiting the domestic resource base, international competitiveness, and an aggressive pursuit of new export opportunities.