Tanzania Planning and Investment Budget 2026/2027 Backs New Investment Policy and Diaspora Bonds, with Five Strategic SEZs to Draw TZS 797 Billion

Tanzania’s President’s Office for Planning and Investment has tabled a TZS 144.85 billion budget for 2026/27, after a year in which it cut 245 business fees and levies, halved the hotel levy to 2%, and registered a record USD 10.95 billion in investment projects.

The budget was presented to the National Assembly by Minister of State Kitila Mkumbo in Dodoma in April 2026, and is about 8.2% lower than the TZS 157.85 billion approved for 2025/26.

Unlike the sector ministries, the Office does not finance infrastructure directly: its budget funds national planning, investment promotion, and the oversight of public corporations.

Through the Treasury Registrar, it is expected to collect TZS 1.79 trillion in non-tax revenue for the Treasury in 2026/27, more than ten times its own spending.

Tanzania Planning and Investment Budget 2026/27 Structure

The Office has requested Parliament to approve TZS 144,850,349,000 across three votes: the President’s Office for Planning and Investment (Vote 011), the National Planning Commission (Vote 066), and the Treasury Registrar (Vote 007). Recurrent expenditure accounts for TZS 126.02 billion and development expenditure for TZS 18.83 billion.

The President’s Office for Planning and Investment receives TZS 35.39 billion (TZS 26.24 billion recurrent and TZS 9.14 billion development), the National Planning Commission receives TZS 48.64 billion (TZS 39.32 billion recurrent and TZS 9.32 billion development), and the Treasury Registrar receives TZS 60.82 billion (TZS 60.45 billion recurrent and TZS 0.37 billion development).

The Treasury Registrar is tasked with collecting and remitting TZS 1.79 trillion in non-tax revenue to the consolidated fund, drawn from dividends, the contributions of public institutions, the Tanzania Telecommunications Traffic Monitoring System, and loan and interest repayments. That target is 5.7% higher than the TZS 1.696 trillion set for 2025/26.

Tanzania Investment Performance to March 2026

Foreign direct investment into Tanzania reached USD 1.72 billion in 2024, up 28.3% from USD 1.34 billion in 2023 and 45.1% higher than the USD 944 million recorded in 2020, according to the UNCTAD World Investment Report 2025.

The country ranked third for foreign direct investment in the East African Community, behind Ethiopia (about USD 3.98 billion) and Uganda (about USD 3.31 billion) and ahead of Kenya (about USD 1.50 billion) and Rwanda (about USD 819 million), but recorded the fastest growth in the bloc and ranked 11th in Africa by inflows.

Mining, manufacturing, finance and insurance, and information and communications together drew 82.4% of foreign direct investment in 2023, with the leading source markets being the Cayman Islands, Mauritius, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, China, Canada, South Africa, Barbados, Kenya, and Nigeria.

Between July 2025 and March 2026, the Tanzania Investment and Special Economic Zones Authority (TISEZA) registered 656 projects worth USD 6.82 billion and expected to create 111,935 jobs. Industrial services led by capital (USD 2.90 billion), followed by tourism (USD 1.03 billion), commercial building construction (USD 870 million), and transport (USD 672 million), while Dar es Salaam attracted the most investment (USD 2.39 billion across 228 projects), followed by Pwani (USD 1.49 billion) and Arusha (USD 516 million).

For the full 2025 calendar year, TISEZA registered 915 projects worth USD 10.95 billion, the highest annual total since the registration system began in 1996 and a 257.4% increase on the 256 projects registered in 2021. According to the Tanzania Business and Investment Guide 2026, the leading sources of foreign direct investment were the United Arab Emirates, China, India, Singapore, and France, and the projects are expected to generate more than 162,895 jobs.

The Office also began tracking outward investment, reporting that Tanzanian companies have invested more than USD 3.1 billion abroad, in markets including Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, South Africa, Japan, South Korea, Qatar, and Oman, across manufacturing, energy, logistics, finance, and media.

Major Investment Projects Registered by TISEZA

The budget speech listed strategic projects registered and now under implementation, financed by private investors rather than by the Office. The largest by capital are summarised below.

Hengya Cement in Tanga is investing USD 530 million in a plant expected to produce 3.5 million tonnes a year and to create 686 direct jobs and more than 5,000 along the value chain.

Airtel Tanzania is investing USD 480 million in telecommunications infrastructure, including 5G, expected to create 825 direct and 350,000 indirect jobs.

Top Crop Tanzania, in Pwani and Morogoro, is investing USD 370 million in bananas and palm oil, targeting 400,000 tonnes of bananas and 158,000 tonnes of crude palm oil a year by 2035 and about USD 166 million a year in foreign exchange.

ATN Energy is investing USD 370 million in petroleum and cooking-gas storage in Dar es Salaam and Tanga, expected to create 202,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Sotta Mining Corporation in Mwanza is investing USD 364 million in gold processing, expected to create 2,536 jobs and earn about USD 365 million a year in foreign exchange.

Songea Sukari in Ruvuma is investing USD 352 million in sugarcane and sugar, expected to create 21,000 jobs and earn about USD 100 million a year from sugar, ethanol, and electricity.

Kioo Limited is investing USD 340 million in a glass-products plant in Dar es Salaam, expected to create 1,600 direct and 5,751 indirect jobs.

Tanzania Business Environment Reforms

In the year to March 2026, the Office reviewed 28 laws that were holding back business and abolished or reduced 245 fees and levies. The hotel levy was cut from 10% to 2%, the local government service levy was reduced from 0.3% to 0.25% of gross revenue, loading and offloading fees were scrapped in several local authorities, and the more lenient 2021 environmental management regulations were restored.

The Treasury Registrar Act was amended through the Finance Act 2025 so that public agencies and corporations contribute up to 40% of gross revenue to the consolidated fund each month, replacing a flat 15% quarterly contribution.

At the One Stop Facilitation Centre (OSFC) housed at TISEZA, the number of ministries and agencies providing services rose from 12 to 14 with the addition of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Mining Commission, and a resident Assistant Lands Commissioner can now issue title deeds on site.

More than 100 Investor Service Providers have been registered and trained, and the Office made aftercare visits to over 721 investors.

Tanzania Investment Priorities for 2026/27

For 2026/27, the Office has completed a new National Investment Policy 2026 to replace the 1996 policy, now awaiting approval, alongside a National Investment Strategy 2026-2031. The policy opens new financing channels, including public-private partnerships, capital markets, and diaspora bonds for Tanzanians abroad.

Under a government notice issued in December 2025, the Office also took on two new mandates, private-sector development and the coordination of poverty-reduction programmes, for which it will produce a State of the Private Sector in Tanzania report and a National Poverty Monitoring Framework.

Strategic Special Economic Zones

The Office has designated five strategic Special Economic Zones with special non-tax incentives: Bagamoyo Eco-Maritime City and Intermodal Transport Phase I (152 hectares), Nala in Dodoma (607 hectares), Kwala in Kibaha (40.5 hectares), Buzwagi in Kahama (1,333 hectares), and the Benjamin Mkapa-Mabibo expansion in Dar es Salaam (1.3 hectares).

TISEZA has signed land agreements with 27 companies to invest in these zones, expecting more than TZS 797 billion in investment and over 20,460 jobs in industries ranging from food packaging and agro-processing to ferro alloys, pharmaceuticals, and vehicle assembly.

The Office will also create Youth Industrial Special Economic Zones in Dodoma (Nala, 100 acres), Singida (Musisiri-Iramba, 100 acres), Pwani (Kwala, 20 acres), Mara (Bunda, 100 acres), Ruvuma (Songea, 100 acres), and Bagamoyo (Pwani, 20 acres), and will expand the national land bank with compensated, serviced land for investors.

New Policy, Incentives and Treaties

The Office will review the Special Economic Zones guideline to introduce region-specific and local-investor incentives, publish a tax and non-tax incentives compendium, and convene National Investment Facilitation Forums to resolve obstacles to investment.

A new programme will rank regional secretariats on how well they attract and serve investors, with incentives for the best performers, and a Business Facilitation Act and a Public Investment Act are being prepared, the latter establishing a public-investment management authority and a national investment fund and granting commercial public corporations greater autonomy.

A strategy to attract investment in vehicle assembly and manufacturing is being developed with the African Association of Automotive Manufacturers, with the aim of making Tanzania one of Africa’s leading vehicle producers by 2030.

On treaties, Tanzania has signed 20 bilateral investment treaties, of which 10 are in force, and has received requests to negotiate new agreements from the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Hungary, Indonesia, Qatar, Japan, Vietnam, and Russia.