Dar es Salaam. Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania on Friday, April 1, 2022.

Samia defends CCM’s move to amend its constitution

President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Friday said changes within the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party are inevitable if the second longest-ruling party in Africa is to conform to global political trends.

The CCM national chairperson made the observation yesterday at the Jakaya Kikwete hall in Dodoma where the party was organising its extraordinary congress, adding that changes are important for the country’s oldest party to cope with the global political pace.

Amid ongoing party reforms taking place within the CCM, President Samia told her fellow CCM members: “I promise to lead this party [and] build the party.”

At Friday’s extraordinary meeting held in the capital city, CCM congress members endorsed minor constitutional changes, which the chairperson described as a boost for efficiency in the organisation’s decision-making process.

Other reasons for the reform, according to Samia, were to enable the party to get strong and competent leaders who will be able to discharge their duties diligently, foster implementation of the CCM manifesto as well as fight against corruption and abuse of power.

Friday’s amendment into CCM’s constitutitoon is the 17th one since the founding of the party through a merger of TANU and Afro-Shirazi party in 1977. 

Friday congress also saw the endorsement of Mr Abdulrahman Kinana as CCM’s Vice Chairperson for Tanzania Mainland following his appointment on Thursday. Kinana, who is replacing Mr Philip Mangula, garnered all 1875 valid votes cast at the congress that Samia chaired. 

“For a party to be strong, democracy within the party must be strong,” Mr Kinana was quoted as saying in his speech shortly after his election. “For democracy to prosper, we must uphold justice.”

Tanzania seeks an Sh1.6 trillion loan from IMF

President Samia Suluhu Hassan told Bloomberg that her government is seeking at least $700 million (about Sh1.6 trillion) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as Tanzania is adjusting its borrowing strategy to take on more concessional loans and reduce the risk of debt distress.

According to the report, the Samia Administration’s move is part of the Head of State’s wider plan to boost Tanzania’s fiscal position, after the IMF in September raised the East African nation’s risk of debt distress to moderate from low. 

The government ramped up commercial borrowings in the past few years to fund infrastructure projects, including about $1.5 billion from Standard Chartered Plc to help fund the construction of a new railroad. 

“We have redirected the loan program,” Bloomberg quoted President Samia as saying during an exclusive interview with her in the capital Dodoma. “I am looking for concession, not for commercials.”  

But she pointed out that an agreement with the IMF hasn’t been reached yet.

Increased borrowings amid the pandemic even as tourism revenue, which accounts for about a quarter of Tanzania’s gross domestic product, plunged led to a jump in the nation’s debt level, according to an analysis by Bloomberg. 

The talks, if successful, will result in the nation’s first IMF policy-reform funding program in a decade. The institution’s disbursement of about $570 million for Tanzania last year was under the emergency lending provision for recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. 

Tanzania’s debt climbed 20 per cent to $37.1 billion last year. The fiscal deficit may widen to 4.2 per cent of GDP this year, compared with 1.4 per cent in the 2019-20 fiscal year, Bloomberg said, referring to a January report by the World Bank.

Tanzania gold exports fell 10.4pc in 12 months to January

Tanzania’s gold exports amounted to $2.66 billion in 12 months to January, a 10.4 per cent decline from $2.97 billion the prior-year period, mainly driven by a slowdown in production, the Bank of Tanzania said Thursday.

Gold exports accounted for almost 39 per cent of Tanzania’s total exports of goods and services in the year ending January, the bank said in its February economic review.

The average price of the precious metal on the global market remained flat at $1,795.4 a troy ounce in the year ending January compared with the prior-year period, the bank said.

“Gold prices remained unchanged and above pre-pandemic levels, continuing to reflect its appeal as a safe haven,” the bank said.

However, the price of gold rose by 1.5 per cent to $1,816.00 a troy ounce in January compared with $1,790.40 the previous month, the bank said.

Gold prices rose in January, “owing to rising inflation that lowered the treasury yields in the United States,” the bank said.

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