The latest Bank of Tanzania (BOT) Monthly Economic Review of January 2020 indicates that in the year ending December 2019, credit to the private sector recorded an annual growth of 11.1% compared with 4.9% in December 2018.
This was supported by sustained accommodative monetary policy, coupled with ongoing measures implemented to improve the business environment, the Bank explains.
Credit growth was observed prominently in agriculture (+90.1%), building and construction (+72.6%), and transport and communication activities (+14.6%).
In terms of shares in the outstanding credit to the private sector, personal-related and trade activities continued to account for larger shares with 28.7% and 17.7% respectively, followed by manufacturing (10.9%), agriculture (9.5%), and transport and communication (5.5%).
Agriculture is Tanzania’s economic mainstay, contributing USD 13.9bn to its GDP (nearly 30%) and 67% to total employment during 2014.
In 2015 the Government of Tanzania established the Tanzania Agriculture Development Bank (TADB) to contribute to the development of agriculture sector through mobilizing financial resources and supporting smallholder farmers with low-interest loans.
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