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Kikwete fears foreign currency reserve crash
2006-05-23 08:56:43
By Correspondent Maura Mwingira, Washington DC
Increasing petroleum prices have been eating up Tanzania’s foreign reserves badly, President Jakaya Kikwete said yesterday here, adding that the only way to counter the trend was to augment exports.
The President said one of the greatest challenges ahead of his government was to ensure the foreign currency reserve would not go down despite the increase in fuel prices.
He said there was a real danger rising fuel prices could make the reserve to nose-dive.
’Fuel prices have scaled up badly, eating up our foreign reserves. That is why we must increase efforts to sell homemade goods abroad to ensure we don’t empty our foreign coffers,’ the President told a gathering of Tanzanians living in USA.
He said production of export goods in large quantity was the best counter measure as controlling fuel prices was not possible.
’Foreign currency reserve is important for proper running of the economy,’ the President said.
The government has USD 2 billion reserve, inherited from the immediate former regime of retired President Benjamin Mkapa, he said.
The reserve can be able to sustain the government to source goods outside the county for eight months, he said.
’We will ask wananchi to sell more goods outside the country and to conserve fuel as much as possible,’ he said.
The President also used the occasion to inform Tanzanians in the USA about the government’s plans for the next five years.
’My biggest task is to ensure the lives of 80 per cent of Tanzanians who solely depend on agriculture, fishing and livestock-keeping improve,’ he said.
He said most of the farmers are poor and if their economic well-being would be uplifted, then the whole nation would be the beneficiary.
He said the previous government made great achievements, which his administration was building up on to better the lives of the people.
Kikwete also urged Tanzanians living in USA to be more patriotic and not to pretend they were not Tanzanians.
In the meeting, the opposition MP John Cheyo (Bariadi East-UDP), popularly known as ’Bwana Mapesa’ was a great attraction. Immediately after Kikwete introduced him the audience cheered wildly shouting ’Mapesa, Mapesa.’
The President joked at Cheyo telling him: ’Mr Cheyo ohh, I can see people still recalls who you are,’ as the crowd cheered the more.
Cheyo is the chairperson of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee.
The President was also accompanied in the meeting by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Dr Asha-Rose Migiro, Minister of State in the President’s Office, (Good Governance), Philip Marmo, and the Minister for Industry, Trade and Markets, Nazir Karamagi, among others.
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