President John Pombe Magufuli on Sunday said that Tanzania’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic is in such a way that the country’s economy comes first and above everything else.

“We share borders with about eight countries and if we close our borders, we will be destroying their economies,” said President Magufuli, noting that some countries depend on Tanzania for their daily food.

He urged citizens to keep working hard, saying that those that have decided to lockdown their countries will need food from Tanzania next year.

He urged Tanzanians not to be biased against people from countries which went into lockdown, saying Tanzania is keeping cordial relations with peers within the East Africa Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (Sadc).

He said so far, Tanzania’s economy is on the right path and that the country is removing the requirement for quarantine on tourists in order to boost tourism.