JAPAN International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has signed an 116bn/- loan agreement with the Tanzania government for the business environment for jobs development policy operation.
The loan agreement was sealed between
JICA and the Ministry of Finance and Planning following the exchange of
notes signed on March 20, this year, between the two governments.
According to Mr Nagase, the 116bn/-
extended loan is co-financed with the World Bank and that the project
involves a series of development policies reforms, which will remove
critical business environment constraints in Tanzania especially in key
job-creating industries and sectors.
In the financial Year 2015/16, a total
of 8 development partners have pledged to provide GBS. These include
African Development Bank (AfDB), Canada, Denmark, the EU, Finland,
Ireland, Sweden and the World Bank (WB).
In the coming 2016/17 national budget,
the AfDB, Denmark, EU and the WB have so far confirmed provision of the
GBS; while other DPs will continue to provide support to the 2016/17
national budget through Basket Fund (BF) and Development Project Fund
(DPF) These include Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France,
Germany, Spain, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Norway,
Sweden, Netherlands, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
and Switzerland.
Others are International Multilateral
Development Agencies, including AfDB, BADEA, Global Funds, OPEC Fund,
Saudi Fund, EU, United Nation’s Agencies and the WB.
The new loan agreement between Tanzania
and JICA comes just few days after the Millennium Challenge Corporation
(MCC) announced recently that it will not release to Tanzania 470
million US dollars for funding electricity projects.
According to a statement from the United
States Embassy in Dar es Salaam, the corporation’s board decided to
cease all activities related to the development of a Second Compact with
Tanzania.
The MCC Board of Directors reportedly
deferred a vote on the re-selection of Tanzania for compact eligibility,
citing the nullification of election results in Zanzibar and the
Cybercrimes Act, claiming that the law was used to limit freedom of
expression and association.
The Japanese loan agreement will address
top business environment constraints by simplifying the business
registration and licensing regimes, as well as strengthening the
effectiveness and efficiency of customs administration at the Dar es
Salaam Port, according to JICA chief representative.
Mr Nagasse told a news conference that
the loan agreement would also improve effectiveness in tax
administration and nationalising tax incentives, adding that it would
simplify the land registration process, improve access to finance in
particular among micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and lowering
agriculture transport costs.
“JICA is committed to support the new
government in various ways to accelerate its efforts to become an
industrialised middle income country as envisaged in Vision 2025,’’
pointed out Mr Nagase.
No comments :
Post a Comment