Briefing Paper

Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations in Tanzania: Guidelines or directives?

The underlying study involved review of literature, reports and other secondary data, along with interviews with sectoral ministries (MDAs) responsible for key social and economic services and the administration of local government Authorities (LGAs), the regional secretariats (RS) and LGAs, carried
out in 2017. The Brief also draws some ideas from other studies undertaken on the subject matter pertaining to decentralisation by devolution in Tanzania. The key proposition underpinning this brief is that while the central government has committed itself to providing most of the resources required under decentralisation by devolution, the execution has suffered from unclear intergovernmental fiscal relations and uncertainty in the disbursement of resources to the LGAs thus undermining local autonomy.