Wadau wa Maendeleo wametangaza dola milioni 495 kussuport Bajeti ijayo

                                     PRESS RELEASE

Development Partners announced USD 495 million in Budget Support for the next financial year 2012-2013, and welcomed the active role played by Tanzania’s oversight institutions

Tanzania’s development partners have committed 495 million dollars USD (equivalent to 776 billion Tsh)1 to support the Government’s budget in the next financial year 2012/13. The General Budget Support (GBS) development partners commit to disburse more than half of their GBS contribution in the first quarter to help the smooth implementation of the financial year 2012/13 budget.

This is an important contribution by the GBS development partners to support the implementation of the national poverty reduction strategy and the five year development plan. The commitment is based on three key issues: a satisfactory annual review outcome in 2011; an improved dialogue in some critical sectors over the past year; and the reforms of GBS over the last two years that have instilled a multi-year monitoring framework focused on the way public finances are spent.

Events of the past few weeks have demonstrated that domestic oversight institutions are playing an active role in analysing Government performance and calling for action where underperformance is identified.

Over the coming year continued and strong attention will be paid to the way public finances are spent by closely monitoring how the findings in the latest Controller and Auditor General’s annual report are being acted upon, including at local government level.

In addition improvements in budget execution that mirrors the budget approved by Parliament would be important. The development partners also look forward to reinvigorated dialogue through the Public Expenditure Review Group in FY12/13.

The European Union Delegation (EU) has chaired the group of twelve GBS development partners for the

last year. The GBS annual cycle has been re-energised by strategically focusing on three core themes:

· strengthening dialogue – to improve the way GBS development partners and key Government

partners discuss Tanzania’s development challenges;

· delivering results – to ensure that development results in Tanzania are regularly monitored and

reviewed;

· improving accountability – to increase the ability of the citizens of Tanzania to hold their

Government to account.

These themes helped to focus the way in which the Government of Tanzania and its GBS development

partners have discussed the development challenges facing Tanzania through the year. The new GBS Chair – the UK’s Department for International Development – is proposing to manage GBS around the same core themes when it takes over the GBS Chairperson role from May 2012 for one year.

Development results matter more than ever and GBS is helping the Government to get more children into school, to invest in transport infrastructure, and bring down the costs of doing business. Notable results tracked in 2011 included the delivery of annual capitation grants of Tshs 25,000 per student to all government secondary schools, and the reduction in the number of days taken by BRELA to register a company from 6.9 days in 2009 to 3 days in 2011. Challenges remain however, exemplified by the crisis in the energy sector. The quality of education, which was also in and out of the media spotlight with attention focusing on the poor standard 4 pass rates. The recent report by the CAG which shows a 41%

shortfall in development budget transfers compared to the budget approved by Parliament.

1 Figures based on Bank of Tanzania 2 May exchange rates.

The way in which the GBS development partners and key Tanzanian stakeholders discuss corruption has improved. A high level dialogue was put in place in 2011 and ran the course of the year to provide a formal structure to discuss the active fight against corruption. The high level dialogue around corruption is expected to continue in 2012 and results from these processes will be tracked through the year.

Clear results in the fight against corruption are crucial for economic and social development in Tanzania, as well as for GBS to be an efficient and effective development cooperation instrument.

Looking to the future the EU Ambassador, H.E. Filiberto Ceriani Sebregondi, said:

“The improved set of results posted in 2011 must be sustained. Throughout the coming year the GBS development partners will closely monitor the openness and transparency of the budget and the value for money Tanzanian citizens get from Government expenditure. We will also pay close attention to Government's implementation of the CAG report recommendations.”

The EU Ambassador also said: “The year ahead will also see a renewed focus on a selected set of issues such as management of natural resources which is a critical component of Tanzania moving beyond aid and to increasingly rely on revenues from agriculture and its mineral and potential gas reserves.”

The following DPs provide GBS: African Development Bank, Canada, Denmark, European Union, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom and World Bank. The European Union has been Chair for this group for the past 12 months, and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development will now assume this role.