There are five categories that define sources of economic growth and development; natural factors, human factors, population, physical capital and technological factors, institutional factors.
Natural factors: quality and quantity of natural resources in the country. (land, minerals, fuels, climate, geographical location)
TANZANIA: total land area: 947,300 sq km. mostly surrounded by land with a border on the Indian Ocean. Tropical climate near coast and more of a Temperate climate inland. terrain is plains along the coast, central plateau, and also includes highlands. natural resources: hydropower, tin, phosphates, iron ore, coal, diamonds, gemstones, natural gas, gold, and nickel. problems: flooding during rainy season or possible drought. not much land irrigated or used for agriculture. some current issues include: soil degradation, deforestation, desertification, threatened marine habitat, droughts hurting agriculture, wildlife threatened due to humans. agricultural products: coffee, sisal, tea, cotton, pyrethrum, cashew nuts, tobacco, cloves, corn, wheat, cassava, bananas, fruits, vegetables, cattle, sheep goats.
Tanzania seems very reliant on their agriculture especially their coffee, therefore, these factors are important. The problems of the soil degradation as well as the weather and seasons seem to be major components for agriculture.
Human factors and population: labor supply’s quality and quantity. (Quality: education, status of food and environment, government influence in society) (Quantity: birth rate, average age, women’s role in society, people’s migrations within country)
TANZANIA: population is 41,048,532 people. 43% 0-14 years, 54.1% 15-64 years,2.9% is 65+ years. average age 18 years. life expectancy is about 55 years. 34.29 births/1000 population. urban population is 25% of total population. sex ratio for total population is 0.98 male/female. infant mortality rate is 69.28 deaths/1000 live births. life expectancy at birth is 52.01 years. people living with HIV/AIDS is 1.4 million very high risk of major infectious diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, typhoid fever, malaria, plague, schistosomiasis, rabies. 69.4% of the total population is literate. labor force is 21.06 million. work force 80% agriculture and 20% other
Tanzania’s population and work force seems rather large. However, there are issues of disease and education that are major weaknesses. There is also probably malnutrition, which has no factors listed above, but I am sure that is another likely disadvantage for Tanzania’s population.
Physical capital and technological factors: quantity and quality of capital resources in terms of directly productive capital (country’s factories and other manufacturing equipment) and indirectly productive capital (country’s infrastructure: roadways, railway, etc.).
TANZANIA: industries: agricultural processing. diamond, gold, and iron mining, salt, soda ash, cement, oil refining, shoes, apparel, wood products, fertilizer. electricity production is 3.786 billion kWh. electricity consumption is 3.182 billion kWh. electricity imports is 200 million kWh. oil consumption is 32,000 bbl/day (all imported). natural gas production and consumption is 560.7 million cu m. telephones: main lines in use 179,849 and mobile cellular 14.723 million. (telecommunication network is fairly inadequate). 125 airports (9 with paved railways). railways of 3,689 km. roadways of 78,891. waterways: lakes can be used, but rivers not navigable and Indian Ocean has risks of unreliability. one port, Dar es Salaam.
Institutional factors: financial, legal, and social institutional factors. (banking system, educational system, healthcare, communication methods, political stability)
TANZANIA: legal system based on English common law (3 branches). suffrage at 18 years. six political parties. education expenditure 2.2% of GDP.
Under the previous president Benjamin Mkapa harsh economic reform has been applied to Tanzania, it made inflation drop, the economy grow, and most foreign debt paid; yet most people remained impoverished. there is not much television, but more radio broadcasting.
Tanzania’s institutional factors seem to give the country disadvantages, because it seems weak and that has a large effect on the economy, reflected by the country’s poverty and debt despite efforts to improve conditions.
General Facts about economy: GDP is $54.38 billion. GDP per capita is $1,400. very reliant on agriculture. budget revenue $4.099 billion. budget expenditure $4.517 billion. current account balance is -$3.536 billion. transnational issues: hosting refugees and drug trafficking.
From my research I think the weakest source of economic growth in Tanzania is the human factors and population. Personally I think this is a very important factor for economic growth, a base foundation for everything else. And if the country was improved or enhanced through education it would help the country grow in other ways to achieve more economic growth. For example, a stronger education system could result in a stronger government and other important institutions as well as further prevention or care with diseases and also more advanced agriculture. These advances could help the country grow economically.
Sources included: cia’s world factbook, bbc, state.gov, and infoplease.com
