Jump to navigation

Tanzania

Arusha comes to the rescue

Tanzania’s NFRA plans to export 1 million tonnes of corn to neighbours facing shortages following droughts

Tanzania’s National Food Reserve Agency has agreed to sell 650,000 tonnes of corn to Zambia over the next eight months as Lusaka counts the costs of the drought caused by El Niño (AC Vol 65 No 12, Debt and drought weigh down economy).

Tanzania’s Agriculture Minister Hussein Bashe told reporters late last week that Arusha plans to export 1 million tonnes of corn this year to neighbours facing shortages following the droughts after out producing its own national demand of around 6m tonnes by 2.1m tonnes over the past year.

A request for maize and corn imports has also been made to Uganda.

The drought has led to a major drop in water levels at Zambia’s hydroelectric power plants in response to which President Hakainde Hichilema’s government plans to import electricity from Tanzania.

Hichilema has requested US$900m in drought-related financing from the international community, of which it says it has now received around $500m. However, the droughts were a major contributor to ministers cutting economic growth forecasts for 2024 from 4.8% to 2.3% in May.

Zambia’s state-owned electricity utility Zesco has said that it needs to import power to avert an energy deficit that could affect its copper production. The Hichilema government is also hoping to revive abandoned private sector-led power projects and speed up work on an interconnector with Tanzania.



Related Articles

Debt and drought weigh down economy

Finance Minister Musokotwane cuts growth forecasts as worst dry spell in four decades and a weaker kwacha drive up the cost of living

Making significant progress towards restructuring its debts, three-and-a-half years after defaulting on its Eurobonds, Africa’s second-largest copper producer is struggling to contain the fallout from severe droughts, continued...


Debts and denials

The Auditor-General documents widespread irregularities while the armed forces defend the purchase of expensive private jets

The report of the Auditor-General into the country's public financial management during 2017 has added fuel to the burning controversy over accusations that the government is wasting phenomenal...


New debt demand as bondholders defer decision

A local company goes to court to recover $300m from the state power utility as bondholders postpone a vote on the government's request for debt relief

The operator of the country's only coal-fired power station, Maamba Collieries Ltd., has opened arbitration proceedings with Zambia's state-owned electricity utility Zesco to recover US$300 million it is...


Nice guy finishes first

Mainland Tanzania came out of the elections glowing. President Ben Mkapa won a convincing 71.7 per cent (compared to 61.8 per cent in 1995) and his Chama cha...


Gangs of the Copperbelt

The Patriotic Front has helped groups of artisanal miners form companies in return for delivering the vote in this crucial region

As so often in Zambia's elections, the Copperbelt will be decisive in next year's general elections and President Edgar Lungu's Patriotic Front (PF) is facing an uphill battle...