Performance of Import Substitution as a Strategy of Industrialization in Tanzania

Abstract

Studies which have been carried out on industrial development in underdeveloped countries have grown that usually the aims and objectives of industrialization through import substitution do not conform to the outcome of the strategy. Normally, import ssubstitution is designed to ssolve balance of payments problems including other problems of econmic underdevelopment. Yet, it has been claimed that the strategy ends up in bringing more balance of payments problems and economic stagnation. This paper therefore tries to. investigate on the problems of import substitution industrialization in Tanzania based on quantitative data from some selected consumer and intermediate goods. Industries. The study was guided under the hypothesis -that import substitution industrialization has not successfully solved balance of payments problems.