Tanzania’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows improved to $922 million dollars last year as compared to $685 million registered in 2020 following the COVID-19 pandemic that hit many global economies, the Minister for Finance and Planning Dr Mwigulu Nchemba said.
The findings are according to the UNCTAD’s World Investment Report of 2022, which reports on the FDI flow across countries and economies.
Speaking on behalf of the President of Tanzania Samia Suluhu Hassan in Dar es Salaam during the opening of the African invitation investment dialogue recently organized by both by the government of Tanzania and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) to promote foreign direct investment (FDI), Nchemba said that the dialogue comes at the right time when Africa is seeking to accelerate economic growth to meet national development goals in line with the sustainable goals (SDGs) and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

“It is therefore important for our countries to discuss a topic that is critical in driving sustainable recovery in Africa’s economy, still reeling from the pandemic and the war in Ukraine that is increasingly painting a gloomy and uncertain outlook.” He said.
According to Nchemba, with an added advantage of abundant natural resources, Tanzania is now focusing on putting in place an enabling environment for trade and investment, management of macro-economic variables and trying as much as possible to reduce the cost of doing business its economy in order to attract both local and foreign investors.
He said his has been implementing various reforms geared towards deregulation and creation of a conducive regulatory framework.
He further noted that, several initiatives aimed at reducing red tape adding that various measures have so far been undertaken including the establishment of a one-stop facilitation center where investors access all services provided by most of the regulatory agencies under one roof.
Nchemba said Tanzania would this year to launch an inclusive Tanzania Electronic Investment Window [TEIW] that integrates service platforms from relevant government institutions that facilitate investment.
“The system will among others, facilitate online receiving of applications from investors, system integration with the respective participating government institutions; online real-time feedback provision to investors, and serve as a secure centralised electronic repository for investment statistics,” he added.
The minister said that since President Samia Suluhu Hassan has opened up Tanzania for anyone interested to bring capita and do businesses; offering a wide range of investment incentives just like several other popular investment destinations in the world.
“We are even more generous and attractive. The reform measures we have been implementing have placed the private sector at the center and as key player in economic activities,” he added.
Meanwhile, Nchemba has requested the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency to strengthen their engagements and support to Africa, Tanzania inclusive especially in key priority sectors that will indeed drive Africa’s recovery and build resilience from unforeseen shocks.
According to him, the Ukraine war has complicated domestic resource mobilization in African countries, already worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic and the increased frequency of natural disasters in the context of climate change.
He further said that in the midst of rising and unsustainable debt levels, African countries are being forced to reduce their fiscal space at a time when they should be increasing it.