Tanzania secures $1bn syndicated loan from Trade and Development Bank
Tanzania has received a $1 billion syndicated loan arranged by the Trade and Development Bank for infrastructure projects and is seeking an additional $500 million from the regional lender.
Admassu Tadesse, TDB’s chief executive, said the bank was in discussion with the Tanzanian government for additional loans worth “hundreds of millions of dollars” to finance infrastructure projects, including a new railway.
In total, Tanzania wants to spend $14.2 billion over the next five years to build a 2,561km (1,591 mile) standard gauge railway network connecting its main Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam to its hinterland.
Tadesse said the high-speed electric rail network that Tanzania is building is expected to boost trade with landlocked neighbours in the region.
Tanzania said in 2016 it had agreed a $7.6 billion loan from China’s Export-Import Bank to build a railway line that will link it to neighbours, but the funds were never disbursed. No reasons were given by authorities.
