Tanzania’s foreign reserves continued to remain at sufficient level to meet the country’s requirements for importation of goods and services, a cabinet minister told parliament on Thursday.
Philip Mpango, the east African nation’s Minister for Finance and Planning, said during the year ending April, foreign reserves amounted to 5.3 billion U.S. dollars, which were sufficient to cover about 6 months of import of goods and services.
Presenting to parliament Tanzania’s Economic Survey 2019 Report and the National Development Plan for 2020-2021, Mpango attributed the impressive foreign reserves to an increase in exports of goods and services, especially cash crops and minerals.
Mpango added that the amount was also above the East African Community’s target of 4.5 months of imports and the Southern African Development Community’s target of 6 months of imports.
On the government debt stock, Mpango said for the period ending April, 2020, total national debt reached about 55.43 trillion Tanzanian shillings (about 23.93 billion U.S. dollars).
“Out of which, domestic debt stock amounted to 14.85 trillion shillings and external debt stock amounted to 40.57 trillion shillings,” he told the House in the capital Dodoma.
He said the government debt was largely contributed by newly acquired concessional and non-concessional loans to finance development projects that will accelerate economic growth of the country at large.
Results of the Debt Sustainability Analysis conducted in December 2019 indicated that the government debt was sustainable in the short, medium and long-term, said Mpango. Enditem
