Financing Social Protection in Tanzania
This note assesses whether social protection programs are adequately financed in mainland Tanzania. We find that social protection programs are an important component of Government expenditures, and complements other Government social spending, inc...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/999381538657815182/Financing-Social-Protection-in-Tanzania http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30513 |
| Summary: | This note assesses whether social
protection programs are adequately financed in mainland
Tanzania. We find that social protection programs are an
important component of Government expenditures, and
complements other Government social spending, including
education and health spending. In recent years, the
Government has strengthened social protection by: (i)
increasing social protection expenditures; (ii) shifting
social assistance from generally inefficient food and
in-kind programs to more efficient cash-based programs;
(iii) shifting social assistance from relatively untargeted
programs to those which are targeted to poor people; and
(iv) easing demand side constraints faced by households
investing in human capital. Despite these positive
developments, challenges to social protection remain: (i)
social assistance and employment programs remain underfunded
relative to the needs of the population; (ii) development
partner financing remains crucial even though they are prone
to external risks; (iii) little isknown about which social
welfare services and employment programs work well; (iv)
many pensionparameters are not in line with best-practice
and therefore, sustainability can be improved; (v)
generalized subsidies, which are notoriously bad instruments
to target poor people, are absorbing Government resources in
a tight fiscal environment. |
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