Dar es Salaam. The government and the World Bank will collaborate to support the East African nation in consolidating its status as a lower-middle-income country following the lender’s Board of Executive Directors’ approval of a new Country Partnership Framework (CPF). 

A statement released Friday noted that the new CPF prioritises several vital areas, including supporting Tanzania’s human development agenda by providing transformative support in education, healthcare, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services, and shock-responsive social protection programmes, building upon the strong momentum already established by the Tanzanian government.

The CPF will also bolster the government’s goal of fostering a better environment for private sector-led growth by deepening support for reforms that strengthen the business climate, investing in infrastructure and connectivity to facilitate economic activity, and modernising Tanzania’s productive sectors. 

Finally, the CPF will support Tanzania’s crucial and multi-prong resilience agenda, focusing on climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies alongside efforts to strengthen the country’s economic resilience. 

World Bank Country Director Nathan Belete said that progress toward these objectives is underpinned by two cross-cutting priorities: increased women and youth empowerment and improved government effectiveness with more efficient, transparent, and accountable institutions.

READ MORE: Experts in Tanzania Want Conservation ‘Decolonised’ As World Bank Pulls Out of Controversial Project

“We have seen tremendous progress with recent policy changes, such as increasing access to education for all girls coupled with broader reforms such as vocational training,” Mr Belete said. 

“Girls and boys now have multiple pathways to complete their secondary education, and the Fee-free Basic Education Policy has had an incredible impact, opening doors for 4.5 million new students,” he added. “With such renewed commitment to human development and inclusion by the government, the outlook for inclusive growth and poverty reduction is favourable.”

The World Bank says that the CPF is informed by extensive consultations with various stakeholders and a country opinion survey and is aligned with the priorities identified in Tanzania’s Third Five-Year Development Plan and Zanzibar’s Five-Year Development Plan. 

Its focus on private sector-led growth is consistent with the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Creating Markets Strategy, which aims to support conditions for private enterprises to contribute efficiently to inclusive development. IFC is a member of the World Bank Group.

Mary Porter Peschka, IFC’s Regional Director for Eastern Africa, said private sector participation is critical to economic growth and development. She explained that Tanzania can further leverage private sector-driven economic growth to address its development goals, including poverty reduction and job creation. 

READ MORE: Here’s Why the World Bank Report on Tanzania’s Demographic Challenges Is Essential Reality Check

“IFC will continue to work closely with our public and private sector partners, as well as with our colleagues across the World Bank Group, to unlock the conditions needed to further support inclusive finance, agribusiness, manufacturing, and sustainable infrastructure through investments, advisory and upstream support,” Ms Peschka said. 

Șebnem Erol Madan is the Director of Economics and Sustainability at the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), which offers political risk insurance.  She said that in recent years, MIGA has seen a significant increase in investor interest in Tanzania thanks to reforms undertaken by the government.

“As part of the new CPF, MIGA will continue to support financial inclusion and climate finance initiatives and will leverage the new World Bank Group guarantee platform to support the country in attracting and mobilising private capital in other sectors, including renewable power and digital,” she explained.

IFC’s investment portfolio in Tanzania is over US$400 million, focusing on key sectors, including financial institutions, agribusiness, and real estate. The IFC advisory portfolio reached $11 million in 2024. 

Over the last few months, MIGA has issued its first political risk guarantees in a decade in Tanzania, with guarantees in the mobile money and banking sectors. As a result, MIGA now has a portfolio of US$151 million in the country and a strong pipeline in the renewable energy and digital sectors.