TCCIA News and Events Blog

The national debt stock slightly decreased by 0.7 per cent to $9,6 billion at the end of May this year from the amount recorded the previous month, the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) report says.

The BoT monthly economic review for June says the decrease was due to exchange rates fluctuation, adding that out of the total national debt stock, $7.7 billion was external debt and $2 billion was domestic debt. But the external debt stock has dropped to $7.7 billion at the end of May, this year.

“Out of the external debt stock, 79.2 per cent or $6.1 billion was disbursed outstanding debt [DOD] and the remaining portion was interest arrears,” the report says.

The profile of external debt by creditor category shows that the debt owed to multilateral creditors was equivalent to 52.9 per cent of the total external debt.

During the period under review, the profile of outstanding debt by use of funds indicates that 32.4 per cent was disbursed for balance of payments and budget support, followed by social welfare and education, and energy and mining with 13.4 per cent and 11.7 per cent, respectively.

Disbursements received and recorded during the month amounted to $29.2 million, hence external debt service was $4.5 million, out of which $3.4 million was principal repayments and $1.1 million was interest payments.

On the other hand, domestic debt rose to Sh2.64 trillion in May this year from Sh2.58 trillion recorded in April. Out of the domestic debt stock, government securities accounted for 99.7 per cent and the remaining portion was other government debts.

New domestic debt issued during the month amounted to Sh91.8 billion, out of which Sh31.8 billion were treasury bills and Sh60 billion government bonds.

Domestic debt service was Sh40.6 billion , out of which principal amounting to Sh29.6 billion was rolled over while interest amounting to Sh11 billion was paid by the government.

Source – The Citizen

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Thirteen villages in Masasi and Nachingwea districts are expected to benefit from Mbwinji water project, whose construction contract was signed recently.

Construction of the Mbwinji water project would cost Sh31.2 billion and would have the capacity to produce water for residents of the two districts.

The minister for Water and Irrigation, Prof Mark Mwandosya, said here that the purpose of the project was to increase the provision of water services and renovation of water infrastructure in Nachingwea and Masasi.

Prof Mwandosya urged residents of the two districts to safeguard the project as it was intended to serve them.

“People should realise that this project is meant to benefit them… They should therefore protect it by all means,” said Prof Mwandosya.

He urged communities in the two districts to start establishing special water-user groups, which would be charged with the responsibility of managing the project at the community level.

The minister added that everyone had a responsibility of making sure that the environment around the water source was not polluted.

“If we destroy the environment around the water source, there is a probability that the project will collapse after only a short period of time,” he insisted.

He urged Synohydro Corporation Limited, the project contractor, to finish the work on time.

Source the Citizen

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The Tanga City Council has filed a case at the Tanga District Land and Housing Tribunal against MIC Tanzania Limited following its refusal to dismantle a cell phone tower that is claimed to have been constructed at a road reserve in the Bombo area.

Court documents allege that the mobile phone company has refused to construct the communication tower at an area provided by the council’s Works Department.

Court sources have said that a summon has already been sent to MIC Tanzania Limited headquarters in Dar es Salaam and the matter would come for hearing on July 20, before the Chairman of the Tribunal, B K Kishenyi.

The City Council directive was issued vide a letter written on December 29, last year and signed by the City Engineer, R P Lema to the company to dismantle the tower.

The letter said the city fathers were acting following complaints from a neighbour of the plot where the construction of the tower was being undertaken.

It quoted the City Engineer as saying that the Authority had noted that the company undertook the construction of the said tower in a road reserve instead of Plot No. 479 which the council had allocated for the purpose, and issued a construction permit no. 2009159.

It has, however, been discovered that the so-called approved plot is a football ground and neighbours were wondering if such towers are allowed to be constructed in playgrounds.

Last February, residents of the area had threatened to sue the mobile phone company for non-compliance of a city council order to remove the tower and reconstruct it at an approved plot nearby.

The move followed what they felt was silence over the matter by the City Council, one month after the Works Department of the Council which wrote a letter ordering the company to remove the tower.

Source – The Citizen

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Subscribers whose Sim cards were blocked should report to their respective service providers, the telecommunication authority said yesterday. Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) director general Professor John Nkoma said in Dar es Salaam that such subscribers should contact their operators for registration.

According to him, Sim cards registration exercise will continue for new subscribers and those who have not registered. “I assured subscribers who failed to meet the July 15 deadline for registration that they are allowed to go to their network operators for registration since this is ongoing exercise. The deadline was for non-registered Sim cards,” he emphasised.

His statement follows numerous complaints from Sim cards holders who failed to meet the deadline for mandatory registration. Prof Nkoma told The Citizen that no any subscriber will be affected by the exercise as the authorities had already arranged for the smooth registration of their Sim cards. “Many subscribers are not aware of the directive and those who were aware do not know how to go about it,” he noted.

With the mandatory Sim cards registration in place, the authorised dealers who sell the gadgets would be required to get and forward to service providers, details of every buyer, for them to be registered and activated. “The move will obviously limit their sales as the process seems to be too cumbersome for Tanzanians who are always in haste to get things done,” Prof Nkoma said.

The TCRA boss noted that the exercise would provide a market information database for mobile phones technology in the country, and in turn help in ending market oriented disputes.

He said it would also be easy to trace stolen Sim cards and mobile phone handsets. Zain customer care director, Ms Irene Mlola, urged said Zain’s subscribers to go for registration and activate their Sim cards, ensuring non-registered Sim cards subscribers that they will not be shut out of the network.

“Efforts are in place to ensure that our subscribers are registering their Sim cards and we have warned our dealer against offering unregistered ones,” she said over the telephone yesterday.

Some subscribers are pessimistic on whether the exercise will be well conducted, while others said the country is not ready for it. As many others are of the opinion that the exercise might be marred by corruption, some see the mandatory Sim card registration as an avenue to pilfer government funds.

Source – The Citizen

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An alternative route should be found for the proposed tarmac road through the Serengeti National Park, the US ambassador to Tanzania, Mr Alfonso Lenhardt, has suggested.

He said this is in order to preserve the wonderful and beautiful game sanctuary.

“We have to be smarter in preserving the sanctity of the Serengeti,” he told The Citizen. He was requested to comment on the project which has been under fire from ecological experts and conservation agencies the world over.

Mr Lenhardt, who visited the area early this week, said the park and its ecosystem must be conserved for the future generation because of their uniqueness.

He said he was not sure if the Tanzania government would go ahead with the road despite concerns raised by experts on dangers of constructing a highway through the park.

He explained that he had been to Serengeti and Ngorongoro districts on a “fact-finding mission” after hearing a lot about the proposed tarmac road through the park’s northern corridor.

“The reason of my mission here is to determine the options to bring economic returns and at the same time conserve the area.

“I am here to find out the facts” he affirmed to The Citizen in an interview at the remote Sukenya village in Ngorongoro District on Wednesday when he went to open school projects.

Mr Lenhardt said his government has not officially communicated to the Tanzania authorities on the matter but did not hide his stance on conservation.

“I am a strong supporter of protecting the environment for future generations. How do we bring more tourists here without stepping up conservation?” he wondered.

He said that he would have preferred if an alternative route was sought to construct the highway linking Arusha and the Lake Zone region rather than through the famous national park.

“We should determine what other options there are,” he stressed, cautiously avoiding to openly criticise the Tanzania government for the move.

He hinted that most development partners were keen to know “the economic returns” of the highway that is expected to pass through the northern part of the Serengeti.

He emphasised that every effort must be made to protect the Serengeti National Park and its ecosystem for the future generation and Tanzania’s economic prosperity.

Recently the government announced that it would go ahead with plans to construct a tarmac road linking Mto-wa-Mbu in Arusha Region with Musoma, Mara Region.

The road would pass through the remote Lake Natron area, Loliondo and proceed to Mugumu townships. It is intended to open up the potential of Ngorongoro and Serengeti districts for development.

But the project has elicited opposition from local, regional and international conservation agencies, including the Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania (WCST) and other pressure groups.

The criticism against the road project has been picked by major international and regional newspapers, with many experts arguing that it could threaten the seventh natural wonder of the world.

The Serengeti-Maasai Mara ecosystem is famous for the annual migration of 1.8 million wildebeest, 500,000 zebras and hundreds of thousands of other grazing animals and carnivores.

During the peak of the migration from July to October more than 100,000 tourists visit the Maasai-Mara on the Kenyan side alone while in Tanzania the migration takes place during the peak tourist season.

Opponents of the road project include international conservation agencies supporting Tanzania, including the Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) which operates from inside the Serengeti National Park.

The US ambassador went to Arusha late on Wednesday where he said he would consult East African Community (EAC) officials on the economic significance of the project through the Serengeti.

But in a quick response to Mr Lenhardt’s worries, an official of the Natural Resources Department in Ngorongoro told the envoy that a portion of the proposed road that will pass through Serengeti would not have tarmac.

President Jakaya Kikwete has lambasted critics of the project, saying the government would go ahead with its implementation. At the same time it would give due emphasis on conservation of the Serengeti National Park, he said.

Source – The Citizen

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The East African Community (EAC) secretariat has urged Tanzanians to embark on commercial farming and capitalize on a 120-million people potential market under the region’s Common Market.

The EAC secretary general, Mr Juma Mwapachu said that Tanzania’s newly initiated green revolution, dubbed as ‘Kilimo Kwanza’ offers massive opportunities for development of commercial farming.

“‘Kilimo Kwanza’ should be regarded as a back-up for Tanzanians to embark on commercial farming. The creation of the EAC Common Market should assure farmers of a ready market for their produce,” Mr Mwapachu said.

He was speaking in Dar es Salaam over the weekend during the official opening of the 34th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF). He presented the Kilimo Kwanza Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) Pavilion, which is under the custodian of Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC), with a trophy for being of the best exhibitors.

The PPP Pavilion brings together Ministries for Water and Irrigation; Industry, Trade and Marketing; Tanzania Investment Centre; Tanzania Investment Bank and Tanzania Private Sector Foundation.

EAC partner states of Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi embarked on the second phase of the integration process on July 1, 2010, by opening up the region’s borders for a free movement of skilled laborers, capital, goods and services. According to Mr Mwapachu, rather than fearing the competition, Tanzanians need to explore the opportunities created by common market.

“There is nothing new with the integration process…it has been practiced in many other places in the world, and ours will never bring new ways of doing business,” he said.

TNBC’s manager for administration, Ms Vick Hingira said the body would not relent with the duty of promoting Kilimo Kwanza and making it known to ordinary people who are the final beneficiaries.

Mbinga East MP Gaudence Kayombo urged TNBC to cooperate with district councils to educate people on the initiative, and how they can explore agricultural-based business opportunities at their disposal.

Source – The Citizen

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Crude prices fell below $72 today on a slightly stronger U.S. dollar, reversing earlier gains of as much as 0.6 per cent boosted by forecasts of a second weekly fall in U.S. inventories.

Prices tracked volatile equities in the past two days, paring gains on Tuesday after a report from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) showed a slowdown in the U.S. service sector. But the expected tightening of U.S. crude and gasoline supplies allowed oil to shrug off falling Asian equities on Wednesday.
U.S. crude for August fell 24 cents to $71.74 a barrel by 0706 GMT on Wednesday after advancing as much as 40 cents to $72.38 a barrel earlier. ICE Brent for August fell 25 cents to $71.20.

“Yesterday’s non-manufacturing data fell more than expected, so investors have a wait-and-see approach,” said Serene Lim, a Singapore-based oil analyst with ANZ.

“The market is pricing in a drop in crude inventories, but if inventories fall less than expected, we might see prices falling.”

U.S. crude stockpiles probably fell 2.6 million barrels in the week to July 2, a Reuters survey showed on Tuesday, as imports may have dropped for a second straight week.

Gasoline inventories were forecast down 300,000 barrels on average, following a surprise modest build in the prior week, while supplies of distillates, including heating oil and diesel, probably posted their sixth straight weekly increase, adding 1.5 million barrels.

The American Petroleum Institute will publish weekly inventory data on Wednesday at 2030 GMT, followed by government statistics from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday at 1500 GMT. Both reports come a day later than usual because of the independence-day holiday on July 5.
Reuters

Source – The Citizen

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The recent discovery of large deposits of crude in Uganda has thrown the construction of a major oil pipeline between Eldoret and Kampala into disarray forcing its financiers back to the drawing board.

Kenya and Uganda governments are crafting a fresh design for the key regional infrastructure that could see a reversal of the pipeline’s direction of flow as well as enhance its capacity to pump crude rather than processed petroleum products.

Tamoil- the Libyan state-owned firm that was to construct the pipeline – said in a brief in May that unforeseen circumstances and the recent discovery of economic quantities of crude in Uganda had made the project unviable.

Kenyan officials admitted that the discovery of oil in Uganda had thrown the Eldoret – Kampala pipeline plan off the track, but added that fresh options are being considered.
“The project is on course, but there has been an urgent need for a redesign that requires re-tendering for the new specifications,” said Patrick Nyoike, Kenya’s Energy permanent secretary.
Mr Nyoike said the new design, if approved by the Cabinet, will pave the way for an investment decision.
A fresh design of the 400 kilometre pipeline and re-tendering for the project will see Kenya and Uganda governments spend more than 15 years on the planning phase of the pipeline seen to hold the key to energy security and future growth in East Africa.

It is also expected to more than quadruple the project cost to $350 million (Sh28 billion).
Mr Nyoike said the pipeline’s capacity has been reduced to 12 inches from the 14 inches initially provided for in the original design that was first mooted in 1995 under a joint partnership between Kenya and Uganda governments and Tamoil East Africa, a Libya state-owned company.
Tamoil was to construct the pipeline on behalf of the two governments under the build, operate and transfer (BOT) initiative.

Uganda has been on the horns of dilemma since British petroleum mining firm Tullow announced the discovery of large deposits of crude on the shores of Lake Albert two years ago.
Kenya’s western neighbour and the largest export market for Kenya’s petroleum products has yet to decide whether to export its oil in crude or refined form.

Kampala has not hidden its interest in adding value to the estimated two billion barrels of crude oil reserves at a local refinery in readiness for export, but Tullow Oil which has bought rights over the deposits from the Ugandan government is said to be keen on shipping out the oil in crude form.

Either option has grave implications for Kenya, which has been Uganda’s main supplier of petroleum products and has been on the search for a business model that will serve its economic interest in the new dispensation.
“The discovery of oil in Uganda and decision to refine crude at home will change the direction of flow with significant impact on the Kenyan economy,” said George Wachira, an industry consultant with Petroleum Focus.

Source – The Citizen

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he Tanzania Investment Bank (TIB) will open branches countrywide.
This is aimed at providing services to potential clients involved in agriculture, said managing director Peter Noni.
In so doing, objectives of the Agriculture First initiative would be met, he said. He was speaking at the Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair yesterday.

The bank has branches in Dar es Salam, Mwanza and Arusha and is planning to open others in Dodoma, Mbeya and Zanzibar this year.

Plans to open branches in other regions are also underway.
“The government has given us the duty to implement the ‘Kilimo Kwanza [Agriculture First]’ initiative through providing farmers with long-term and low-interest loans. We have to make sure that we reach all Tanzanians,” he said.

Last month, the bank opened a window for agriculture financing to serve small and medium-sized farmers who operate in cooperatives.

According to a press release, the bank will offer lending rates of between five and eight per cent a year. Repayments will be done between six months and 15 years.

Source – The Citizen

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A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) seeking to enhance advancement of women and implementation of the East African Community (EAC) Gender Policy was signed in Arusha Municipality on Tuesday.

Besides serving as one stop centre for relevant information for stakeholders on women’s rights and gender equality in the region, the pact would act as a clearing house for advocacy messages from its focal points to the EAC.

EAC deputy secretary general (Productive and Social Sectors), Mr Jean Claude Nsengiyumva, signed on behalf of the community, while Ms Marren Akatsa-Bukachi, the executive director of the Eastern Africa Sub-Regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI) signed on behalf of her organisation.

Speaking after signing the MoU, Mr Nsengiyumva said the agreement was also aimed at creating greater awareness about gender equality in the region through knowledge and information sharing. He welcomed the pact, saying the community was ‘eager to see the contribution of women in the integration journey’.

The EAC embarked upon the second stage of its integration process of the Common Market protocol on July 1, this year, having evolved into a fully-fledged Customs Union last January. The next phase in the integration process is a Monetary Union and ultimately a Political Federation.

EASSI expressed gratitude to EAC for facilitating the process of signing the MoU and praised the regional bloc for the gains made in the integration process so far.

“We are very happy about the Customs Union and the Common Market protocols because they present opportunities for East African women,” said Ms Akatsa-Bukachi. Ms Abatoni Jane Gatete, EASSI Board member remarked that the MoU would enable the two organisations to work together to bring gender more into the priorities of the EAC development agenda.

The MoU provides, in its scope of cooperation, for the strengthening and institutionalisation of the working relationship between the EAC and EASSI.

The working relationship will advance gender equality in the EAC partner states and the development of a policy and regulatory framework on gender to consolidate commitments made to gender equality.

It also provides an option to determine whether to develop a protocol or an Act of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) to achieve the objectives of the MoU.

Source – The Citizen

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