Economy on right footing, says BoT

Dar es Salaam. Bank of Tanzania (BoT) Deputy Governor Bernard Kibesse said onTuesday that the country’s economy was on a sound footing, and that the central bank will play its role of fostering the financial sector.

Speaking on the sidelines of an investors’ forum organised by CRDB Bank Plc, Dr Kibesse, who is responsible for financial stability and deepening, said a number of macroeconomic indicators point to the fact that the economy was doing well.

“The exchange rate has been fairly stable for a long time and we expect it to remain that way,” he said. The inflation rate, he said, has been relatively low.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report shows that inflation rate rose slightly to 3.7 per cent in March, from 3.1 per cent in February. Dr Kibesse said the various measures that have been taken by the central bank have also resulted into an improvement in the growth of credit to various economic activities.

“Just two years ago, we were talking of a nega tive growth rate of -1.7 but currently credit is growing at a seven per cent rate,” he said.

The BoT’s Monthly Economic Review for March 2019 shows that growth of credit to the private sector has maintained a steady upward trend since May 2018 reaching 8.0 per cent in February 2019.

To meet the requirements of a growing economy, Dr Kibesse said the BoT will always work towards ensuring that the banking sector is stable and capable of playing its key role in building an economically prosperous nation.

“This is why we need banks that are large in terms of assets, deposits and branch network, among others,” he said. Tanzania has 40 commercial banks, three development financial institutions, five microfinance banks, two credit reference bureaus, three financial leasing companies, five community banks and one mortgage finance institution.

The CRDB Bank Plc chief executive officer Abdulmajid Nsekela detailed a number of achievements that the bank has attained during the first quarter of 2019.