Tanzania’s national debt shoot to Sh55.43 trillion

Finance and Planning Minister, Philip Mpango

Dodoma, TANZANIA

The government of Tanzania has on Thursday June 11 said that the country’s debt for the period ending April 2020, has reached Sh55.43 trillion ($23.9 billion).

Out of which, domestic debt stock amounted to Sh14.85 trillion and external debt stock amounted to Sh40.57 trillion.

The Finance and Planning Minister, Philip Mpango has however assured that the debt remains sustainable in the short, medium and long-term.

The Minister said this when he presented to parliament in Dodoma, the economic survey 2019 report and the national development plan 2020/21.

“The Government debt is largely contributed by newly acquired concessional and non-concessional loans to finance development projects that will accelerate the economic growth of the country at large,” said the Minister.

However, Mpango asserted that, results of the Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) conducted in December 2019, indicated that the country's public debt remains sustainable in the short, medium and long-term.

The country started new year with a national debt of sh54.84 trillion ($23.77 billion) as of November 30, 2019 due to a shortfall in revenue collection coupled with low external financing exacerbating pressure on an economy. 

According to the Minister, the country’s economy is expected to grow at a rate of 5.5 percent in 2020 compared to earlier estimates of 6.9 per cent.  

He attributed the slowed growth to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic which has affected most of the Tanzania’s trading partners and sectors.  - Africa