Dar Attracts 30trl- Projects in Three
Years
By Special Correspondent, DAR ES SALAAM
INVESTORS’ confidence in Tanzania as an
investment hub of choice is intensifying with latest figures showing that a
total of 905 projects with a combined value of US $13.2 billion (about
30.4trl/-), were registered during the past three years.
Tanzania continues to be the leading
destination for Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) among member states of the
East African Community (EAC), accounting for about 40 per cent of all the
investments in the bloc that were received in 2017, according to the World
Investment Report (WIR), 2018.
The
annual report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD),
showed that Tanzania registered FDIs projects worth US $1.2 billion
(about 2.7trl/-) last year, followed by Uganda which bagged US $700
million (about 1.6trl/-) while Kenya came third US $672 million (about
1.5trl/-).
And, speaking at a news conference in
Dar es Salaam yesterday, the Executive Director of Tanzania Investment Centre
(TIC), Mr Godfrey Mwambe, said the 905 projects were registered between 2015
and 2018.
Mr. Mwambe, who was briefing
journalists on achievements registered during the past three years under
President John Magufuli, attributed the new projects to increasingly confidence
by foreign and local investors on Tanzania’s macroeconomic stability, good
governance and favourable investment climate.
During the period under review, 319 of the
projects were registered by foreigners, 307 were fronted by local investors
while 277 investment projects were through partnerships between foreign and
local investors.
China remains the leading country with
registered investment projects in Tanzania with a total of 723 projects between
1990 and this year. Dar es Salaam is the leading recipient of the projects at
59 per cent.
The TIC boss explained further that the
lion’s share of the registered projects during the past three years standing at
478, are proposals to establish industries in various parts of the country.
President
Magufuli has on various occasions stressed on setting up of factories for value
addition of locally produced raw materials, mostly agricultural produce, as the
country strives to achieve the target of becoming a middle-income
industrialized economy by the year 2025.
Apart from value addition, local
processing of raw material will create direct and indirect job opportunities
for Tanzanians and also enable the country acquire technology transfer which is
crucial for sustainable industrial economy.
For a project to be registered by TIC,
which offers a number of initiatives, it should be worth US $500,000 (about
1.150bn/-) for foreigners and US $100,000 (about 230m/-) for local investors.
As part of facilitating investments in
Tanzania, TIC has set up a One Stop Facilitation Centre where responsible
government institutions work under one-roof to provide required services.
The
institutions include the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS),
Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), Business Registration and Licensing Authority
(BRELA), the Immigration Department as well as the Labour Division in the Prime
Minister’s Office.
Also on the list are National
Environment Management Council (NEMC), Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority
(TFDA), Occupational Safety and Health Authority (OSHA), National
Identification Authority (NIDA) and Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO).
According to WIR 2018, which was
launched at the World Investment Forum (WIF) in Geneva, Switzerland, both East
Africa and the Horn of Africa, which have emerged as the fastest growing FDI
destination on the continent, registered a total of US $7.6 billion in foreign
investments last year.
Rwanda was in the fourth slot in the
EAC with FDIs worth US $366 million followed by South Sudan at US $80 million
as Burundi tailed the list with only US $300,000.
According to the WIR report, Tanzania’s
strong FDIs inflow is backed by strong gold prices and a diversified productive
structure, including expansion by Facebook, Uber and India’s Bharti Airtel.
The report showed further that
globally, FDIs flow declined by 23 per cent in 2017 to US $1.43 trillion from
US $1.87 trillion which was registered in 2016. On the other
hand, the World Bank forecasts that economic growth in Tanzania would edge up
to at least 6.8 per cent in 2018, as inflation eases.
According to the Bretton Woods
institution’s Global Economic Prospect report launched early this year, the
global economic growth will go up to 3.1 per cent in 2018.
The bank noted also that growth in
Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to continue to rise to 3.2 per cent in 2018 and
to 3.5 per cent in 2019, on the back of firming commodity prices and gradually
strengthening domestic demand.
Latest report by the Bank of Tanzania
(BoT) showed that economic activities continued to expand solidly in the third
quarter of 2018. “Credit growth strengthened further in August, fueled by a
jump in personal loans and a significant acceleration in credit extension to
the manufacturing sector.
“While exports remained broadly stable,
imports expanded significantly having been boosted by surging purchases of
capital goods from abroad due to soaring infrastructure spending,” the central
bank said in the report.
The BoT was also buoyant that next
year; the economy should continue to expand solidly, supported by sustained
infrastructure spending and growth within the services sector on the back of
growing tourist inflows.
Ends
Comments
Post a Comment