Why Tanzania’s statistics look fishy
A country lauded for its economic growth may not be doing as well as it says
AFTER THE cold war ended, much of Africa democratised and opened up. Few countries better embodied the feverish hope of the 1990s than Tanzania. It had suffered grievously in the 1960s and 1970s under its founding leader, Julius Nyerere. A nascent democracy was throttled by one-party rule. An economy with great potential was wrecked by “African socialism”. Some 11m peasants were forced into collective villages, where they went hungry.
This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “A Potemkin economy?”
From the July 25th 2020 edition
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