National debt soars, still within sustainable level, says Treasury

DAILY NEWS Reporters

Deputy Minister for Finance and Planning, Dr Ashatu Kijaji

AS the government conducts sovereign rating to access soft loans from foreign sources, the national debt has increased from 19.69 billion US dollars in June, last year, to 23.2 billion US dollars by June, this year, with the Treasury stating that the debt levels are still sustainable - going by international standards.

What is more, the Deputy Minister for Finance and Planning, Dr Ashatu Kijaji, assured parliamentarians here yesterday that the lion’s share of the debt was spent to implement development projects across the country.

Dr Kijaji made the explanation when responding to a basic question by Ubungo MP, Mr Saed Kubenea (Chadema), who expressed concerns on the ballooning of the national debt.

The question was asked by Hai MP, Mr Freeman Mbowe (CHADEMA), on behalf of Mr Kubenea. The deputy minister said the government had secured loans from both foreign and domestic sources to implement infrastructure projects, including the natural gas pipeline from Mtwara to Dar es Salaam as well as gas processing plants.

She mentioned other projects construction of roads and bridges, a 400KV power transmission line from Iringa to Shinyanga as well as the infrastructure for the Dar es Salaam Bus Rapid project in addition to implementation of sustainable city projects.

In addition, the funds were used for the ongoing construction of Terminal 3 at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) in Dar es Salaam and expansion of Upper and Lower Ruvu Water processing plants in Coast Region, she stated.

“The government, however, has put in place measures to check spiraling of the debt by strengthening revenue collections and curbing wasteful spending of public funds,” Dr Kijaji explained.

During the financial year 2010/2011, she said the government had borrowed soft loans from foreign sources amounting to 1.3 trillion/- and 2.3 trillion/- during the fiscal year 2014/2015.

The explanation by the deputy minister sought to clarify claims by the Ubungo MP that the government had borrowed a staggering 15tri/- and 9tri/- during the period in question.

In a supplementary question, Mr Mbowe claimed that going by the current rate of the debt, each Tanzanian owed over one million shilling. The claims was rubbished by the Minister of Home Affairs, Mr Mwigulu Nchemba, who explained that there was nowhere in the world where citizens are subjected to pay the national debt.

At this juncture, the Presiding Chair of the session, Mr Andrew Chenge, said there was a need to conduct awareness among the parliamentarians and the general public as it was obvious that majority of people were not aware on computation of the liability.

Mr Chenge said sustainability of debts by nations is pegged on international standards, observing that many people were ignorant of such issues.