Education again leads planned Tanzanian budgetary spending

    According to figures revealed by Finance Minister Mustafa Mkula to the Tanzanian parliamentary committee of finance, education alone is to chop away 17 percent of the next budget of 7.2 trillion shillings (6 billion U.S. dollars).

    But education will get 1 percent less of the total budget compared with its faring with the last 2007/2008 budget. The health sector, however, will get 1 percent more than its last allocation.

    The top five priority sectors on the new budget remain the same with the last budget. These are education, infrastructure, health, agriculture and energy/minerals.

    Of the 2007/2008 budget of 6.1 trillion shillings (5.08 billion dollars), the top five priority sectors got 18 percent, 13 percent, 10 percent, 6 percent and 5 percent respectively.

    In the new budget plan to be delivered in Dodoma during the 2008 budgetary session of the Tanzania National Assembly, education, infrastructure, health, agriculture and energy/minerals will get 17 percent, 13 percent, 11 percent, 6 percent and 5 percent of the government investment.

    While increasing the total government spending for 2008/2009, Tanzania has also decided to further reduce its dependency on foreign donors.

    Foreign donors contributed to 42 percent of the 2007/2008 budget in the form of General Budget Support.

    Tanzania Revenue Authority Commissioner-General Harry Kitillyahas promised that 66 percent of the planned 2008/2009 budget would come from local sources via taxation.

    The Tanzania Revenue Authority is set to reform its tax collection mechanism to boost tax revenues to support the government budget. The new measures of taxation will be announced on the day when the 2008/2009 fiscal budget is to be announced.