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Revenue not affected by power hitch
2007-01-21 10:40:15
By Emmanuel Chacha, Mwanza
President Jakaya Kikwete has said government revenue collections increased last year in spite of the power crisis and drought that hit the country for the whole last year.
He said that in October last year, revenue Chalked 231bn/- it shot to 259bn/- in December,the highest ever.
The President made the remarks after launching the Mwanza branch of Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL) yesterday.
He noted that the combination of power shortage and drought shook the country but it didn`t wreck the economy, since the government took measures to minimise the effects.
The President hailed TBL for being the leading tax payer, pointing out that last year, it contributed 110bn/- to the Treasury.
The President remarked: ``You are a good example of privatization. You have created direct and indirect jobs and are also a model of corporate social responsibility.
And you are buying our local raw materials for your production. Other companies should follow this example. They should not import goods which are available here.``
President Kikwete added that economic development would be accerelated by increasing export rate growth, and urged the business community to focus in that direction.
The Minister for Trade, Industry and Marketing, Basil Mramba, said the privatization of government-owned industries had come to the end, and so the governmentwas looking for new private investors.
He explained that, only three industries- General Tyre, Tanzania Light Sources Manufacturing and Mashushta were yet to be privatised.
The Chairman of the TBL Board of Directors, Cleopa Msuya, said a total of 280 million litres are produced per year and that the consumption is an average of 6 litres per person per annum.
That is the lowest consumption ratio in Africa. Kenya`s is 12 litres. So, that is a challenge for us to increase production. In the next five years we will expand our Dar es Salaam and Arusha plants,`` he said.
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