World Bank Gives Tanzania Business $60.2 million Boost

The World Bank has agreed to provide Tanzania with $60.2 million in funds in an attempt to further strengthen the country’s business environment.

The $60.2 million will be injected into the ongoing Private Sector Competitiveness Project (PSCP) run by the World Bank and established to create sustainable conditions for enterprise creation and growth in Tanzania.

The funds will be primarily distributed in the two key areas of land administration reform and the provision of greater access to financial services.

The supported land reforms include improved legal certainty and more secure land ownership, reduced costs of land registration, and regularization of tenure rights.

The second area of focus, improved access to financial services, will see support for an improved financial regulatory framework and development of financial products such as savings bonds.

The announcement comes days after the Bank of Tanzania announced its ambitions for 50% financial inclusion in the country by more effectively leveraging mobile transfer and transaction technology.

Philippe Dongier, World Bank Country Director for Tanzania explained the purpose of the funds via a press release on the Work Bank Website: “The PSCP’s focus on securing land ownership and improving access to finance, will facilitate increased flows of private investment into the country’s industries, light manufacturing firms and farms, while boosting shared growth and jobs and improving the quality of life for Tanzanians.”

The Private Sector Competitiveness Project was approved by the World Bank in 2005 and is set to end in 2014.

According to the World Bank, the primary goal of the project is to boost Tanzania’s private sector with a particular emphasis on SME support, regulation, other private sector development, rural markets and education for the knowledge economy.