lxv. The creation of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs in 2008 and the establishment of the Planning Commission in the Presidency are steps in this direction. Efforts have also been made to strengthen public financial management by improving the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework. Nonetheless, improvements are required to strengthen linkages between national development plans and annual budgets, and between development projects and recurrent expenditure. There are also calls for greater transparency and improved oversight by enhancing the capabilities of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, and public procurement agencies and processes. Finally, there should be effective consultations over economic decisionmaking with all stakeholders, including the private sector and civil society. lxvi. Significant progress was made in improving the financial landscape by increasing the number of banks and nonbank financial institutions. However, most of these financial institutions are concentrated in major cities. Access to credit is hindered by the onerous lending conditions demanded by these financial institutions. Government is committed to removing the remaining structural obstacles to financial sector development through the second generation of the Financial Sector Reform Programme. lxvii. The Government of Tanzania has been making efforts to increase domestic resource mobilization by strengthening institutions such as the Tanzania Revenue Authority, expanding the tax base, and reviewing tax exemptions to reduce fraud. Revenue collection has improved but strengthening public financial management still remains a challenge. Measures to enhance PFM include, institutionalising Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys, eliminating loopholes in the tax regime, reducing the number of discretionary tax exemptions, and bringing the informal sector under the tax regime. lxviii. As do most other African countries, Tanzania recognises the need to step up the fight against corruption. It has ratified important anti-corruption and money laundering instruments. The country also created important institutions that are championing the war against this vice. lxix. The CRM notes Tanzania’s impressive efforts to ratify and domesticate a wide range of standards and codes promoting good economic governance and management. The challenges facing the Government go beyond adoption, ratification, and domestication, and touch on effective and vigorous implementation. Improvements are required to fully associate Zanzibar in a formal and institutionalised setting in the process of adoption, ratification, domestication and implementation of standards and codes acceded to by the Union Government. lxx. Speeding up regional integration is one of the strategies that the Government of Tanzania has adopted as a vehicle to attain national development aspirations. Tanzania’s participation in both the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) potentially carries economic benefits, including the potential for increased trade and investment flows due to the elimination of both tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade. lxxi. However, many challenges have been identified and will need to be addressed if the country is to attain the maximum benefits from integration. Low levels of competitiveness, the absence of adequate productive capacity, challenges accessing finance, and the poor state of infrastructure are but a few. The general lack of information among ordinary Tanzanians about business opportunities available to them remains a major problem that needs to be addressed. The ongoing process of creating a Free Trade Area among EAC, SADC, and the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has brought a new dimension to the whole debate about the opportunities and challenges of integration. 3.3 Corporate Governance lxxii. Tanzania’s private sector is increasingly becoming a key partner in development, as is the case in many African countries. As a result, it has become critical for the Tanzanian Government to create a better environment for private sector development in order to build integrity and attract both local and foreign investors. On the other hand, the private sector has to accept and implement good corporate governance, for sustainability. lxxiii. The concept of corporate governance in Tanzania is very much in its infancy owing to a young private sector. Even in Zanzibar, corporate governance as a subject has received little attention. One school of thought attributes this to the ‘ideological dilemma faced by Tanzania after abandoning socialist ideologies and half-heartedly adopting market-driven economics. In this environment, local entrepreneurship is still timid and unambitious. 10