AfricaPress-Tanzania: TANZANIA has witnessed a growing role of the banking sector as supporter and strategic partner in boosting economic development.
The banking sector has made the major contribution to the country’s graduation to the middle income status declared by the World Bank recently.
World Bank categorised Tanzania as a lower-middle income country following economic reforms undertaken by President John Magufuli’s government, including making consistent plans and taking hard decisions aimed at improving the country’s economic development.
The NMB Bank is one of the success stories of the government reforms in the financial sector initiated in 1990’s that through its operations and contribution to national building as well as support to the development agenda especially the industrialisation drive, Tanzania’s mission to a middle-income status accomplished.
The NMB Bank’s Chief of Wholesale Banking, Alfred Shao, NMB Bank has played a key role in financing the implementation of the government’s mega projects whereby so far over 1.2tri/- has been provided.
The strategic projects supported by NMB Bank include those which relates with power generation particularly the Kinyerezi Gas powered electricity plant and some projects under the Rural Energy Agency (REA).
Others are the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) and water supply.
For example, the construction of a new Central Railway line to Standard Gauge, the government is constructing a new electric railway line using domestic resources from Dar es Salaam– Morogoro– Dodoma about 700 Km.
The whole projects cover a distance of about 2,707 Km, with three branches from Dar es Salaam–Tabora-Kigoma (1,251 kms); Tabora –Mwanza (379 kms) and Kaliua– Mpanda (210 kms).
The project is expected to improve transportation of cargo and passengers in the central corridor. It is expected to reduce time and freight for cargo destined to neighbouring countries like Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and DRC.
NMB Bank has been a key supporter and strategic partner of the government in the past five year term playing a pivotal role in the development endeavours to uplift the welfare of Tanzanians.
The unequivocal support has been one of the factors why Tanzania has become a middle-income economy five years ahead of the year it was forecast to acquire the progressive economic status, which is a key developmental stage and point in eradicating abject poverty in the world.
For example during the period under review, Tanzania’s most profitable financier also loaned the agricultural sector and its value chain some 800bn/-, that was monumental due to farming’s role in the national economy and lives of most people.
Mr Shao said crops that benefitted the most from this lending were cotton, cassava, pyrethrum, coffee and cashew nuts. The bank is dealing with two aspects in agriculture sector.
In the first place, it is handling financial matters of all retail customers. For example, if you collect deposits from agri customers, farmers, agro dealers, traders, warehouse operators and all those running their business across agri retail value chain.
What the bank does is to open bank account that will handle all their transactions. And this actually what is called financial inclusion.
So, the bank do financial inclusion for all agri retail customers and this segment is very important to the banking industry because in this country agriculture employs over 70 per cent of the workforce.
“So you cannot spare this segment because majority of the people are depending on agric value chain,” he said.
It is also very important to the banking sector particularly in the economy where 70 per cent of the population is employed in the agriculture sector otherwise you will be kicked out of the market.
This is why we as a bank continue to fund our networks in order to expand our outreach in the rural areas. So our business as a bank will grow as long as we reach more farmers in the agric value chain.
There is no way you can run a bank without depending on agri-space.
We have few customers selected in the urban areas but if you want really run a meaningful banking business you need to penetrate customers in the agri value chains who are majority of the population.
NMB, she said, has also provided letter of credit transaction facilitation for the 550bn/-Tabora, Igunga and Nzega Water Pipeline and letter of credit transaction facilitation for the 35bn/-rehabilitation of water treatment plant for the Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Authority.
Some of the strategic public entities that have benefitted in various financing models, worth billions of shillings, from NMB Bank are namely the Dar es Salaam’s Bus Rapid Transit, contractors building roads under the Tanzania Rural and Urban Roads Agency, the Medical Stores Department and Tanzania Ports Authority
