ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the state of the economy on the eve of Independence, because the economic "inheritance" of Julius Nyerere and the Tanganyika African National Union was to condition much of the politics of independent Tanzania. The ratio of raw materials to total current costs is identified as being high in other industrial sectors, the materials generally being imported. The large variability in the size of establishments between industrial groups or sectors also existed within individual industries. The relatively high rates of labour costs to net output in the tobacco and textile industries were partly attributable to a number of textile and tobacco plants which were being "set-up" in 1961 and thus merely covering costs. The reliance of the industrial sector on the processing of primary commodities leaves the "fortunes" of the industrial sector, to some extent, linked to weather conditions.
