African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 1052: Moving forward together

 Rhine City.

Iringa City can think of market demand, and so can other cities in East Africa, especially cities with less obvious advantages like Iringa City.

The exploration of economic development in these cities and regions will also be brought together in the report to the Rhine City, the political center of East Africa, providing the East African central government with more experience and data to adjust the national economy at any time.

Ernst: "In recent years, the cities of Maputo and Iringa have been actively promoting the transformation of industrial development strategies to adapt to the times. This has great reference significance for small and medium-sized cities and non-resource-based cities in my country, so Breaking conventional thinking is important for urban development, and we must actively absorb these opinions that are beneficial to economic development and make corresponding arrangements.”

The formulation of Iringa City's development strategy also reflects the flexibility of East Africa's economic development to a certain extent.

Although East Africa is a planned economy country, it is not a comprehensive plan, especially in the agricultural field. Although East Africa began to develop heavy industry with all its strength after the 1990s, this does not mean that East Africa has ignored agriculture and light industry.

By the end of the First Five-Year Plan, agriculture was one of the main sources of income for East African countries. Before the 1990s, developing agriculture was East Africa's basic national policy and the true foundation of a country.

After all, just to obtain more people, agriculture must be the basic guarantee. Therefore, East Africa's food production has increased year by year, and the population of East Africa has also reached an astonishing over 80 million at the beginning of the century.

As of 1905, the total agricultural output value of East Africa still accounted for more than 60%, and there was still a long way to go before industrialization. Therefore, East Africa is still an agricultural country. Of course, it is stronger than other agricultural countries. , considered half an industrial country.

Therefore, in order to ensure the stability of the country's main source of income and cope with the pressure of population growth in East Africa, East Africa will not underestimate the development of the agricultural sector.

As for the light industry, the most obvious shortcoming in East Africa is not entirely caused by the economic system of East Africa. Rather, the light industry in East Africa has been inherently deficient since the colonial era. Therefore, although the light industry in East Africa has developed relatively slowly among the national industries, it has made the greatest progress. of.

Therefore, there are essential differences between East Africa’s planned economy and the Soviet Union. In the Soviet Union’s first two five-year plans, investment in heavy industry accounted for more than 80% of the total investment, while East Africa’s investment in heavy industry accounted for less than 40%. When it comes to light industry, industrial investment in East Africa is only over 50%.

This is also the main reason why the first two five-year plans in East Africa were significantly less effective than the Soviet Union. However, the development of East Africa's industrial structure will obviously not be as top-heavy as the Soviet Union.

Ernst continued: "During the Second Five-Year Plan, the development of my country's light and heavy industries had different points. Central and large state-owned enterprises were active in the field of heavy industry investment, while local enterprises were good at the development of light industry. The typical feature is that state investment is concentrated in enterprises above designated size. Local governments are keen on setting up small and medium-sized enterprises, mainly in light industry or basic processing industry.”

"The agricultural field has greater flexibility, because agriculture is not conducive to planned execution and is easily affected by various natural disasters. The conditions for agricultural development in various regions are also different, so agricultural output in various regions is unstable, and agricultural management tends to be guided. , rather than a tough directive.”

"In addition, there are service industries, including medical, education, finance, catering, transportation and other special industries. They occupy an important position in our country's national construction, but they are also the most neglected in our country and industry."

The tertiary industry is the service industry. It is difficult to compete with industry at the moment. However, the specific situation of investment in the tertiary industry in East Africa needs to be analyzed in detail. For example, medical care, education and transportation have all developed rapidly in recent years, while finance, catering, The development of entertainment and other industries is relatively slow.

Although East Africa's industrial development is rapid, it is not too outstanding when compared horizontally with other countries and regions, especially with the United States and Germany. In terms of agriculture and service industries, East Africa has its own advantages compared with other countries. Poor.

Of course, during the Second Five-Year Plan period, in addition to normal industries, East Africa's defense industry expenditures increased rapidly, especially after the completion of the battleship Perseverance. In the next ten years, East Africa's maritime military power will enter a stage of rapid development. According to the plan, after this round of maritime power expansion, East Africa will further consolidate its position as the number one military power along the Indian Ocean coast and form an absolute advantage over all Indian Ocean countries and regions, including India.

Ernst: "It can be said that our country's economic development model has no reference model in the world. Therefore, it is completely understandable that economic development will have twists and turns and difficulties. Even European and American industrial countries will face economic crises and other difficulties, so It is not unexpected to say that we have encountered various problems in economic development.”

"Solving these problems is the key, rather than covering up and ignoring them. In times of economic prosperity, many contradictions and problems will be obscured by the heat of the economy. This is what we need to pay attention to."

"Although the national economy is a chess game, when it comes to local economic development, the same principle may not apply. After all, each region has its own characteristics. What we have to do is to reconcile the differences between the regional and national economies, so that This will contribute to the more efficient development of the national economy.”

Ernst said this, which means that he supports Iringa City's experiment in economic development of the region. If the results are good, of course, Iringa City's development experience will be further promoted.

In fact, this experimental economic development model is not unique in East Africa. This was the case in the development of Maputo City before.

Today, Maputo City has become the fastest-growing city in Hanseatic Province, and its economic size is rapidly approaching the provincial capital of New Hamburg.

Of course, the economic development of Maputo City is not as representative as that of Iringa City, because Maputo City’s conditions are better than those of Iringa City. Maputo City is an important coastal city in East Africa and is located on the plains of Mozambique and southern East Africa. Intersection zone, these are things that Iringa City does not have.

“Under the planned economy model, not all industries are suitable for the planned form, so in order to avoid economic rigidity, we must fully give local governments some independent rights for development. Of course, some red line issues must still be coordinated under the leadership of the central government to achieve economic development. Focus on the big and let go of the small to promote the vitality of the country’s economic development.”

In fact, Ernst's original purpose of implementing the planned economy in East Africa was to accelerate East African industry, rather than regarding the planned economy as a "special medicine" for economic development. This is also related to the national conditions of East Africa.

Through compulsory education, East Africa has greatly improved the basic quality of the people across the country, and at the same time trained a large number of talents suitable for industrial development. On this basis, it is possible to quietly develop a planned economy.

In the past life, many countries in Africa actually belonged to the Soviet system. However, when they copied the Soviet experience, it can be said that all the demons were at work. Not only were they unable to industrialize their own countries, but they also made the national economy a mess. To be honest, Africa in the past life was like this. It is simply impossible to carry out normal economic activities in areas with per capita prenatal education levels.

Letting them govern the country according to the tribal governance model is the limit of many African countries. Leaders who can maintain the overall stability of society are considered "wise kings".

Ernst continued: "While our country's industry is developing, we cannot ignore the development of other industries. Although the status of industry in the national economy is increasing day by day, a normal country is related to all aspects. This is also during the Second Five-Year Plan, we are actively adjusting the national industrial comprehensive The main reason for sexual development is that East Africa wants to become a global power. Although the development of industry is the key, only developing industry will also lead to malnutrition. "

“So in order to achieve prosperity in East Africa’s economic development, we must diversify in the future and realize the simultaneous advancement of various industries. Of course, our capabilities are limited at this stage, so it is understandable to focus on the development of a certain field. But as the economy develops, we must always make up for it. Fix those original shortcomings.”

(End of chapter)