Tanzania’s national debt reached an unprecedented Tsh116 trillion ($46.5 billion) at the end of June 2025, the central bank says.

In its latest report, the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) said that external borrowing accounts for 70.7 percent of the total public debt.

Transportation and telecommunications projects received the most funding in US dollars, accounting for 65 percent of external debt, while euro-denominated debt amounts to 17 percent.

Domestic debt amounts to Tsh35.5 trillion ($14 billion), with the treasury bonds remaining the dominant instrument and commercial banks and pension funds the main public creditors.

However, President Samia Suluhu Hassan has allayed concerns about the mounting debt, saying it remains sustainable in the medium and long term.

While launching the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) election campaign in Dar es Salaam on August 28, she emphasised that the debt-to-GDP ratio is 46 percent, the lowest in East Africa.

She pointed out that Tanzania’s peers in the region have debt levels well in excess of 67 percent of GDP.

She said that by 2024 the average debt for the East African Community was 67 percent of the regional GDP.

CCM party is campaigning for presidential, parliamentary and councillorship posts under an economic growth banner, promising to boost agricultural and industrial development to jobs and income generation, manage the national debt and improving social services.

The government is also seeking public-private partnerships to implement projects such as roads and railways.

© Copyright 2022 Nation Media Group. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).