Tanzania’s FDIs rebound to $750m in 2010

Tanzania expects foreign direct investment (FDI) will increase by 16 percent in 2010 from $645 million last year as the global economy recovers, a senior investment official said on Thursday.

Foreign direct investment in 2009 dropped from $679 million the year before as a result of the global financial crisis.

“According to our projections, we expect foreign direct investment will bounce back this year to $750 million,” Tanzania Investment Centre’s executive director, Emmanuel Ole Naiko, said an interview.

Naiko said FDI inflows into east Africa’s second largest economy were expected to surge to $800 million in 2011.

Tanzania’s economy mainly depends on tourism, mining and agriculture. Its telecommunications, energy, manufacturing, financial services and transport sectors are attracting rising investor interest.

“We expect most of the investments in 2010 and 2011 will focus on tourism, agriculture and telecoms,” he said.

Tourism is Tanzania’s biggest foreign exchange earner, fetching the country $1.3 billion last year.

Naiko said the government was implementing investment reforms to woo foreign capital.

“There are major reforms underway to improve the investment climate in Tanzania. The government is taking this matter very seriously,” he said.

“After a World Bank report showed that Tanzania has fallen behind in the investment climate, we are taking swift measures to review various procedures, regulations and legislation governing investments.”

According to the World Bank’s Doing Business in the East African Community 2010 report, Tanzania fares poorly in key areas such as closing and starting a business, protecting investors, access to credit, cross border trade and issuance of construction permits.

Earlier on Thursday, when launching the latest annual world investment report from the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development, Naiko said the number of new foreign projects registered at TIC dropped to 503 last year from 768 in 2008.

Source: Reuters