Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) has subscribed to a corporate bond issued by the Tanzania Mortgage Refinance Company (TMRC) as a strategy to make longer-term, affordable mortgages and housing accessible in Tanzania.
The subscribed bond was listed Thursday on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange.
IFC’s press statement issued on Thursday said the TMRC bond will support access to mortgages, “helping Tanzanians more easily purchase homes in a country where access to longer-term financing has traditionally been constrained.”
The listing, according to the statement, follows approval granted by the Dar es Salaam’s Capital Markets and Securities Authority (CMS) and a successful offer that raised over 8.9bn/- ($3.8 million) against a target of 7bn/- ($3 million), representing an oversubscription of 27 per cent.
The World Bank’s institution has invested roughly $1.2 million (approximately 2.8bn/-) in the oversubscribed bond offer.
The TMRC Chief Executive Officer, Oscar Mgaya said the IFC’s participation in the third tranche of TMRC’s medium-term note programme will support the continued growth of the housing finance market in Tanzania, as he added: “It will enable us to diversify our funding sources.”
On his part, IFC’s resident representative for Tanzania, Frank Ajilore said that the TMRC’s medium-term note programme is contributing to the development of the debt capital markets in the country, as well as “providing alternative investment instruments to institutional and private investors,” and “Increasing access to affordable housing finance, with longer repayment schedules, will make home ownership more attainable for Tanzania’s emerging middle class.”
According to IFC, Thursday’s listed bond is the third portion in TMRC’s 120bn/- ($54 million) Medium-Term Note (MTN) programme designed to develop the housing market in the Eastern African country.
IFC further stated that TMRC is leveraging the bond to obtain long-term and more diverse funding by attracting institutional and private investors and encouraging private sector participation in the capital markets.
“TMRC will redeem this five-year MTN in 2026. By gradually shifting the bulk of its financing needs to capital markets sources, the MTN programme is expected to reduce TMRC’s dependence on public sector funding,” the corporation’s statement added.
IFC has been a shareholder of TMRC since 2019, and the Corporation’s investment in the latter is supported by the International Development Association’s (IDA), Private Sector Window Local Currency Facility and Blended Finance Facility.
Tanzania Mortgage Refinance Company Limited (TMRC) is a specialised private-sector financial institution that provides long-term funding to financial institutions for mortgage lending purposes.
