The government of Tanzania and the European Union have signed three financial grant agreements totaling 179.35 million euros (Tsh455.09 billion, Ksh26.10 billion) to support budget operations.
Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu was present yesterday in the city to witness the grant signing. She asserts that the donation will significantly benefit and speed the nation’s development projects’ implementation.
“The money will be used to promote policy changes and industry growth in the blue economy, finance for growth, gender equity, green energy, and smart cities, as well as the renovation of rural roads in the southern highlands region,” she said.
President Suluhu claimed that this payment was made in part as a result of her trip to Brussels, Belgium, in February 2022, where she met and spoke with Mr. Charles Michel, President of the European Council, and Ms. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, according to a report by the Tanzanian news outlet The Citizen.
“The disbursement made as a grant to the government coffers is fully aligned with the strategic Tanzania development plans particularly the five-year development plan III, the Tanzania development vision 2025, and the Zanzibar development vision 2050.” ‘
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“The programs will also complement the theme of the 2023/2024 fiscal year as adopted by the East African Community (EAC), which says ‘accelerating economic recovery, climate change adaptation, and mitigation in enhancing productive sectors for improved livelihood’,” the President said.
The payment is a part of the numerous grant budget support activities that the EU has been putting together with the government of Tanzania from 2021 to 2027, which have a total budget of Tsh637 billion (Ksh36.55 billion), according to Mr. Manfredo Fanti, the head of the EU mission in Tanzania.
“We believe in this approach because of the ownership it creates in the partners’ country, however, it also has the downside that we lose the external visibility of our funding because we cannot show something that you can completely touch,” he added.
He added that the money will also be used to assist the Global Gateway initiative, a fresh European plan to expand secure, dependable, and clean linkages in the digital, transportation, and energy sectors as well as to enhance the world’s health, education, and research systems.
The funding agreement falls under three programs: the blue economy, financing for growth, and cooperation facility, according to Tanzania’s Minister of Finance and Planning Dr. Mwigulu Nchemba.
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“This is going to support the budget together with the private sector reforms in gender, digitization, green and smart cities, the blue economy, finance, and the improvement of rural roads,” he said.
