A Study On Economic Structural Adjustment In Tanzania Under Mwinyi Era(1985-1995)

On February 5,1967,along with the resolution of "Arusha Declaration" at the national executive committee congress,Tanzania,soon after its independence,had begun its exploring and developing period of Ujama socialism for more than 20 years.However,because of the policies separating from the actual development of Tanzania,and additionally the influence of the natural disasters,man-made misfortunes and the external factors,Tanzania was hit by a severe economic crisis in the late 1970s and early 1980s,so it had an urgent need for economic structural adjustment.While,in 1985,there came a turning point that Nyerere retired initiatively and Mwinyi elected as president.After consultation with the IMF and World Bank,Mwinyi assented to the economic recovery program and then Tanzania got the aids and loans.Immediately,Tanzania began to market economy adjustment with the main characteristics of liberalization and privatization.In order to reduce obstacles,Mwinyi ingeniously avoided the debate about the ideology and social system,and at the right time,he synchronously promoted the political democratization reform with the theme of multiparty system.A series of measures conducive to the development of market economy were under implementation.Foreign exchange,import and export trade,agriculture,state-owned enterprises,banks and financial industries were adjusted in the orientation of marketization and privatization.At the same time,private and foreign capital economy developed fast.Consequently,liberalization and privatization of the economic structural adjustment not only alleviated the economic crisis and maintained the state's stability in a short term,but also improved people's livelihood.Although the economic structural adjustment during Mwinyi's ruling period(1985-1995)had obtained certain achievements and laid the foundation for the development of subsequent Tanzania,it also generated a series of problems such as the heavy dependent on foreign aids,corruption problems,wide gaps between the rich and poor,the lack of social justice and so on.In fact,these problems also inevitably become the shackles of sustainable development in Tanzania.Now,therefore,Tanzania and the vast number of sub-Saharan African countries are in urgent need of summing up experiences and lessons from history and exploring a way of practical and sustainable development which relies on its own national conditions.