Permanent Secretary in the Finance ministry,Ramadhani Khijjah
The World Bank Board of Executive Directors on Tuesday approved an International Development Association (IDA) credit of US$75 million as direct budget support to further strengthen the sound management of public finance and improve investment climate in select strategic areas in Tanzania.
This is the second in a series of three annual programmatic development policy operations (DPOs) in support of the country’s implementation of its poverty reduction strategy, MKUKUTA II, complemented by Five-Year Development Plan I.
The bank said in a press release that the PRSC series is well aligned on the harmonised framework for the General Budget Support (GBS) in Tanzania, in which the World Bank participated together with 11 other development partners.
“The continuation of budget support is an acknowledgement of the progress in implementing the first operation in the series which focuses on promotion of private sector growth and development; and improvement of fiscal policy and management,” Ramadhani Khijjah, Permanent Secretary in the Finance ministry, said at the World Bank assistance.
“We are confident that we shall successfully complete the series because our reform agenda has remained on track,” he added.
The operation supports the government’s reforms, particularly in enhan
Through focuses on those areas, the operation supports the government’s effort to ensure macroeconomic and fiscal sustainability and safeguard benefits from growth by building resilience of the economy in the volatile global economic environment and as the country faces growing demand for investment to fill infrastructure gaps.
It also helps the country to build competitiveness for much-needed economic diversification and fostering shared growth in the country by leveraging its geographical advantage as a coastal transit country for the region and facilitating industrial agglomeration.
The five reform areas will be hinged on the foundation of improved transparency and access to information as an accountability tool in the country.
“Budget transparency is a critical component of government performance, especially in the energy sector,” said Marcelo Giugale, Director of Poverty Reduction and Economic Management for the Africa Region.
“Proactive information sharing, public access to data, and accurate and timely statistics, are policy priorities for the Tanzanian authorities, and we are delighted to support their efforts. These include the all-important transparency in managing revenues from natural resources, especially gas and minerals,” he added.
Tanzania was declared EITI compliant on December 12, 2012. The Tanzania Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (TEITI) has committed to making public the information on payments and revenues especially related to minerals including natural gas, and possibly oil in the future. TEITI hopes that by this openness, it will build trust between citizens and their government.
This PRSC series complements a $100 million development policy operation in the power and gas sectors.
The World Bank’s current portfolio in Tanzania consists of 23 IDA-financed projects with a net commitment of some US$ 3.1 billion making it the third-largest country programme in the Africa Region.
source The Guardinas
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