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The Tanzania Government recognizes the importance of Internet accessibility in national development and has been at the forefront, at least on paper, in putting in place institutional structures and frameworks to enhance Internet access and use, particularly in Dar es Salaam. Some of the notable accomplishments have been in the area of legislation: deregulation in telecommunication sector, licensing, reduction of import duty and other tariffs on software and hardware. These efforts, though, have not translated in practical terms into wider Internet adoption and use in the country. This paper presents the results of a study that was carried out to establish why, despite what is seen as Government’s efforts to improve Internet accessibility and use in Dar es Salaam, the impact of these efforts remains insignificant.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the effectiveness of foreign aid in improving economic growth prospects in the South Asian region from 1996 to 2017.

A sample of eight South Asian countries for the period 1996–2017 is being considered for this study. This study uses various econometrics tools such as Pedroni and Johansen–Fisher panel cointegration test, panel fully modified ordinary least square and panel dynamic ordinary least square (PDOLS) to ascertain the long-run and short-run dynamics among the variables under consideration.

The empirical results found that long-run, as well as the short-run relationship, exist among foreign aid, economic growth, investment, financial deepening, price stability and trade openness of the South Asian economies. The authors also found unidirectional causality running from foreign aid to economic growth. Both the long-run relationship as well as short-run causality between foreign aid and economic growth is unequivocally positive.

This study uses a dynamic macroeconomic modeling framework to assess the impact of aid flows on economic growth in South Asian economies. Taking into account the diversity of level of growth experienced by the eight countries in the Asian region, this study uses an appropriate regression technique, i.e. PDOLS whose results are robust. Therefore, the policymakers in these countries are well-advised to implement suitable policy measures to ensure optimum utilization of foreign capital resources garnered by way of receipt of foreign aid and build on for stronger future economic growth.