Editorial

Nothing to cheer over leading beer market tag

NEWS that Tanzania is the sixth biggest beer market in Africa must have raised many eyebrows.  According to market research findings by Deutsch Bank, local beer consumption trails Uganda, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Ghana.

The report, extracted from the global beer producer, Diageo's sales throughout Africa, shows that Tanzania's sales contribute three per cent of the company's overall sales on the continent contribution while the rest of Africa shares the remaining 15 per cent.

Nigeria, according to the report, is the biggest contributor with a market share of 36 per cent, followed by South Africa at 18 per cent, Kenya (17) and Ghana (6).  Much as the brewers contribute substantially to the national economy, these new findings should not yet be cause for celebration.

Morally, a country can not be proud of having a big number of people among its population who are boozers. Boozing has never been a good example of a developing country like Tanzania, which badly needs a sustainable productive force.

In Tanzania today, it’s common to find people boozing from as early as 7am to midnight in many places, both urban and rural areas. This is not good at all. A nation must be proud of its values, which should speak for themselves. For instance, Tanzanians are well known all over the world for their hospitality and as a peace loving people.

These values should be promoted to attract tourists who will eventually beef up the country's foreign exchange reserve. So, a country like Tanzania which once claimed the top spot as the biggest sisal exporter in the 1970s should find ways to claim back its lost glory.

The country should dwell on how to reduce the ratio between imports and exports. According to the Bank of Tanzania (BoT), the country will on average spend 948.4 million US dollars to import goods and services every month in the current financial year, making its import bill to amount to about 11.28 billion dollars during the period.

However, value of exports of goods and services in July and August this year was 522.8 million dollars and 560.4 million. This is not promising for a young economy like Tanzania.  The government must widen the tax base by looking at the informal sector which has been left of the mainstream economy.