Tanzania’s John Magufuli iterates to create favourable business climate in east Africa

President of Tanzania, John Magufuli has pointed out a number of challenges that disrupted the business environment in the east African nation and vowed to address them. The Tanzanian leader criticized state-owned institutions for creating unfavourable business climate.

The Head of State was addressing prominent businessmen in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam in a meeting broadcast live by state-owned television Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC). According to him, the existence of excessively complicated administrative procedures in government was one of the factors that discouraged sustainable growth of business activities, as reported by Xinhua.

He further said that the business people from all districts and regions across the country that the current bureaucracy in the government made it difficult for the business environment to flourish in the country.

John Magufuli said the tax burden was another challenge particularly in the tourism sector. The head of state condemned the tendency of some local government authorities of introducing new taxes without prior consultations with the central government. The 59-year old leader admitted that despite the government's efforts to end corruption, there were still some government officials who embraced the malpractice.

"I am aware there are some government officials at the Tanzania Revenue Authority and Tanzania Ports Authority and other authorities who demand and receive bribes from traders," he told the businessmen at State House. He admitted that the government has for many years failed to put in place a proper mechanism to empower small-scale entrepreneurs, Xinhua noted.

On the other hand, John Magufuli reassured them of his government's commitment to empower small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). "The SMEs contribute revenue to the gross domestic product. A failure to empower them does not only affect them but also denies the government sufficient revenues," he said.

Also Read: Tanzania launches roadshows in European nations to enhance country’s tourism