Bank’s Credit to Tanzanian Private Sector Up, Particularly to Agriculture

The Bank of Tanzania (BOT) released its Monthly Economic Review-February 2023 which covers key macroeconomic indicators for the year ending January 2023, including money supply and credit.

Credit to the private sector recorded an annual growth of 23.1% in January 2023, compared with 10% in January 2022, on account of supportive monetary and fiscal policies, and ongoing recovery of economic activities from adverse effects of global shocks.

Credit to the agriculture sector continued to record the highest growth rate, attributable to monetary policy measures rolled out by the Bank in July 2021 to promote cost-effective credit intermediation.

Contribution of personal loans—which accounted for the largest share in the outstanding credit to the private sector—and to the overall growth of credit to the private sector remained dominant though slowing, relative to credit in favour of agriculture, building and construction, and transport and communication activities.

Share of Credit to Selected Economic Activities

Interest Rates

Interest rates charged by banks on loans recorded a marginal increase in January 2023 compared to rates registered in the preceding month and the corresponding month in 2022.

Despite the increase, the overall lending rate remained virtually unchanged at around 16%, while negotiated lending rates averaged 14.19%, higher than 13.29% and 13.68% in the preceding month and the corresponding month in 2022, respectively.

On average, deposit rates recorded increases with the overall deposit rate rising to 7.38% from 6.94% in the preceding month, and 6.79% in January 2022.

Meanwhile, negotiated deposit rates averaged 9.30% in January 2023, slightly above 8.88% in the preceding month, but lower than 9.92% in January 2022.