Poverty reduction gets more government attention

The Tanzanian government has increased funds for programmes to reduce poverty in the East African nation, Finance Minister Zakia Meghji said when she unveiled the national budget for 2006-2007. Such programmes include completion of roads projects, the supply of water from Lake Victoria to arid regions as well as increased generation of electricity. Meghji, who read the 4.85 trillion shilling (US$3.88 billion) budget, said the government had allocated 1.4 trillion shillings ($1.1 billion) to civil servants' salaries in 2006/07, up from 682 billion shillings ($0.5 billion) in 2005-2006. To empower people, Meghji said, the government plans to strengthen schemes to provide credit from commercial banks and other lenders to farmers and low-scale investors. She said efforts would also be made to establish more savings and credit cooperative societies, grassroots institutions that have proved successful in provision of credit services to people in rural areas as well as low-income earners in urban centres. Meghji said the government had also taken measures to protect the environment. These included a ban, issued in April, on the exportation of timber to safeguard forests and water sources; the eviction of livestock keepers from riverbeds; and a ban on the production or importation of thin plastic bags. She said 9.4 billion shillings ($7.52 million) would be allocated for implementation of strategies for environmental conservation, including the survey farms and pasture areas to avoid clashes between farmers and pastoral communities.