TIC registers over 1tri/- projects in January

DAR ES SALAAM: THE country’s business climate is steady, considering that in January this year, the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) registered a total of 52 projects worth 422 million US dollars (over 1tri/-).

This is up by over 50 per cent of investment registration compared to the same month last year (2023), whereby only 23 projects were recorded, according to a latest monthly report released by TIC on Wednesday this week.

The report showed that a total of 7,220 jobs are expected to be created upon kicking off operation of all the 52 registered projects, a notable upturn in job creation from 1,937 on January 2023.

The country further experienced an upward trend in total value of capital being poured for investment across sectors, including agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, commercial building, mining and tourism.

According to the report, as of January this year, the value of capital reached 422 million US dollars (over 1tri/-) from 122 million US dollars (about 310bn/-) in corresponding month, 2023.

The manufacturing outperformed other sectors in term of luring prospective investors by recording a total of 25 projects worth 110 million US dollars (about 280bn/-), followed by the transportation sector which collected 16 projects worth 235 million US dollars (about 598bn/-).

The transportation sector topped other sectors in attracting huge amount of capital even though it registered only three projects. Likewise, agriculture recorded three projects valued at 22 million US dollars (about 56bn/-) while the tourism sector recorded three projects worth 30 million US dollars (about 76bn/-), the report depicted.

In another development, according to the report, the number of Domestic Investment (DI) versus Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) saw a remarkable change in trend with the former (DI) increased to 33 per cent in January, while the latter somewhat decreased.

“The number of FDI slightly dropped to 52 per cent in January this year from 57 per cent in the corresponding month,” reads part of the report. Reacting on the report, the seasoned business expert, Dr Sylvester Jotta, a lecturer based at the Saint Augustine University of Tanzania (SAUT) attributed the impressive progress in investment registration to favourable policies kept in place by the government under President Samia Suluhu Hassan which provide incentives such as tax break to investors.

In 2022, the government adopted the New Investment Act of 2022, which widened the door for both foreign and local investors to pour their capital under significant incentives.

The new Act has reduced the minimum investment capital threshold for a Tanzanian-run business from 100,000 US dollars about (255m/-) to 50,000 (127m/-).

Dr Jotta further mentioned the country’s infrastructural expansion and establishment, including the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), roads, airports and ports as among major factors which investors look at for lasting profitable operation of their business.