DAR ES SALAAM, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian President John Magufuli announced on Thursday that foreign reserves with the country's central bank have reached 5.4 billion U.S dollars.
"This is equivalent to six months of import of goods and services," Magufuli told academicians at the University of Dar es Salaam during a debate on the east African nation's industrialization drive.
Magufuli is the brains behind the industrialization drive aimed at making the country, the second largest economy in East Africa, attain a middle income status by 2025.
The president said the amount was high and had never been realized since independence in 1961, adding that the handsome reserves had been attained following putting in place prudent policies and controlling of wasteful spending.
The control on wasteful spending included banning unnecessary foreign trips by government officials and a ban imposed on holding of government meetings in posh hotels within and outside the country.
"You must understand that we have money. All the grand projects that we are implementing is because we have enough reserves," said Magufuli.
Official statistics released by the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) last week showed that by July 2018 gross official reserves were 5.4 billion U.S. dollars.
"The reserves were sufficient to cover about 5.5 months of projected import of goods and services, excluding foreign direct investment related imports," said the BoT's monthly economic review for August.
