Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE country’s economy grew by 4.3 per cent in the second quarter (April-June 2021), slightly 0.3 per cent up, as compared to the expansion in the corresponding period last year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.
NBS Director of Economics Statistics, Daniel Masolwa said at a news conference here that in absolute terms, nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased to 39.2tri/- from 37.2tri/- in the second quarter of 2020.
“Real GDP increased to 33.4tri/- from 32tri/- in the corresponding period in 2020, an equivalent to a 4.3 per cent growth,’’ he noted.
During the second quarter of 2020, the economy registered the lowest growth rate of 4.0 per cent since 2017, mainly due to Covid-19, distress following the introduction of lockdowns by many countries to mitigate spread of the pandemic effects, Mr Masolwa noted.
“Lockdowns disrupted inflow of tourists subsequently affected the hospitality industry, and the 2021 second quarter growth has shown an upward trajectory following normalization of stagnant activities including the tourism sector,’’ he added.
According to Mr Masolwa, the annual economic growth in 2021 is projected at 5.0 per cent. In terms of economic activities, he added, during the period under review, Information and Communication attained the highest growth of 12.3 per cent, followed by electricity generation (12.1 per cent).
Other services include arts and entertainment and households as employers (10.8 per cent), accommodation and food services (10.1 per cent), water (8.4 per cent), and mining and quarrying (7.3 per cent).
“During the period under review and in accordance with Broad Economic Classification (BEC), tertiary activities accounted for the largest share of GDP with 38.9 per cent, primary activities (36.9 per cent) and secondary activities (24.2 per cent).
Mr Masolwa further elaborated that the expansion of economy by 4.3 per cent during the second quarter of 2021 was spearheaded by key drivers of growth which are agriculture (13.0 per cent), transport and storage (8.4 per cent), trade and maintenance (8.1 per cent), manufacturing (7.6 per cent) and construction (7.1 per cent).
According to NBS, the compilation of quarterly and annual GDP was consistent with the United Nations Statistics Division’s guidelines on the compilation of national accounts statistics known as the System of National Accounts 2008, which enable compilation of comparable statistics across different countries.
