AfDB President Dr. Adesina on visit to Tanzania

• AfDB President Dr. Adesina to hold talks with Tanzania President Samia
• Dr. Adesina’s visit to ease future Bank financing to Tanzania
• AfDB private sector operations in Tanzania are valued at US$ 159 million

AfDB: The president of the African Development Bank Group, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina is conducting an official visit to Tanzania as of June 13 to 15, 2025, aimed at reinforcing the Bank’s partnership with the country.

“Dr. Adesina will hold talks with Tanzania’s president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, with a focus on ongoing and future development opportunities for Bank financing,” reads the report in part.

Dr. Adesina will be conferred with an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the University of Dar es Salaam in recognition of his “outstanding leadership, lifelong commitment to Africa’s transformation,” and his contributions to the continent’s progress.

“He (Dr. Adesina) is also scheduled to tour Bank-financed transportation projects across the country, underscoring the institution’s continued commitment to infrastructure, economic growth, and social progress in Tanzania,” details the report.

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AfDB Tanzania investment to-date

The African Development Bank’s active portfolio in Tanzania is concentrated in infrastructure development, with transport accounting for roughly 66 percent of all infrastructure financing.

As of May 2025, the Bank has an active transport portfolio of $2.41 billion across road, rail and aviation. These transport operations are delivering critical infrastructure to support mobility, logistics efficiency and boost regional competitiveness to collectively position Tanzania as a strategic anchor and trade hub in East Africa.

The AfDB Country Portfolio Performance Review (CPPR) report assesses the performance of Bank-funded operations and for Tanzania, as of December 2024, the country’s active portfolio consisted of 28 operations (25 public and 3 private), with a total approved amount of UA 2.87 billion (US$ 3.87 billion), 79% of which is in infrastructure (transport, energy, water, and sanitation).

The AfDB private sector operations in Tanzania are valued at US$ 159 million, or 4% of the total commitment. The focus on infrastructure operations in the active portfolio is explained by its alignment with the country’s medium and long-term development plans and successive country strategy papers (CSPs), 2016-2020 and 2021-2025.

In terms of the High 5s, the focus has been on integrating Africa (65%), followed by Light Up and Power Africa (11%); Improving the quality of life of Africans (12%); Industrialize Africa (6%); and Feed Africa (6%).

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Tanzania’s steady performance growth

According to the AfDB, since the last CPPR, there has been a steady improvement in the overall performance of sovereign operations (SOs), with notable progress in key portfolio performance indicators. Case examples given include flagged loans and grants dropped from 39% to 13%; and number of problem projects (PP) reduced from 2 to 0.

“Also, there is no non-performing loan for non-sovereign operations (NSOs) in the portfolio. However, for sovereign operations, the number of ageing and potentially problematic projects (PPP) increased from 2 to 3 and 0 to 2, respectively,” the AfDB reveals.

The AfDB also points to challenges like start-up delays relating to meeting effectiveness conditions for first disbursement, and slow procurement processes; however, these have not hampered relations with the country.

The key findings of the 2024 CPPR were that a sustained portfolio-based dialogue between the government of Tanzania and the Bank can anticipate design and implementation challenges and address them upfront.

Notably, Tanzania’s global rating in the 2023 Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) improved modestly, with a score of 58.2 in 2023, up from 57.7 in 2020 but it is nonetheless well above Africa’s average of 48.3.

The country’s score on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) also improved to 40/100 in 2023 (ranking 87th out of 180 countries) from 37/100 (ranking 96th) in 2019.

Further still, Tanzania’s Country Strategy Paper’s (CSP 2021-2025) main objective is to support the country’s vision of transforming into a competitive and inclusive economy, through two Priority Areas, namely: (i) Sustainable infrastructure for a competitive economy, and (ii) Improved private sector business environment for job creation.

The priority areas were aligned with the Tanzania Development Vision 2025 (TDV-2025), the third Five-Year Development Plan (FYDP-III), the Zanzibar Development Vision (ZDV-2050), the Zanzibar Development Plan (ZADEP: 2021-2026), as well as Bank’s High 5’s anchored on the Ten-Year Strategy (TYS, 2013-2023), and its successor (TYS2.0, 2024-2033).

So far, the sustainability of Bank funded interventions has been strengthened by enhanced collaboration with government. For instance, the Roads Fund, established in 1998 to support road maintenance and financed from the fuel levy, transit charges, and overloading fees, disbursed USD 427 million in 2021/2022, which was 8.73% above the road maintenance budget, and an increase from USD 359 million disbursed in 2019/2020.

“The AfDB ongoing operations in Tanzania are well aligned with the CSP and cover the selected sectors, namely, transport, energy, water and sanitation, social, agriculture, and governance/multi-sector, with crosscutting themes such as gender equality, climate change, and job creation mainstreamed,” the media report summed up.

Similarly, speaking at the 60th Annual Meeting of the AfDB Board of Governors and the 51st Meeting of the Board of Governors of the African Development Fund (ADF) that was held earlier this month in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, said; “Since these projects align with national priorities, the African Union’s Agenda 2063, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Tanzania expects to continue its collaboration with AfDB through ADF-17 strategies and other financial sources to accelerate inclusive and sustainable development for the country and the African continent at large.”

Overall, it is expected that the visit by AfDB president will serve to smoothen and iron out any and all challenges as well as further relations between the bank and Tanzania.