IMF gives Tanzania economic support
Its economy slowed to 4.8% in 2020 as travel restrictions battered the tourism sector, a key earner in the East African country.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has loaned Tanzania more than half a billion dollars in emergency financing as the coronavirus pandemic drags on its economy and critical tourism sector.
The Washington DC-based lender approved US$567 million in Covid-19 support for Tanzania, which until recently was an outlier in the global fight against the coronavirus and dismissed the gravity of the disease.
Its economy slowed to 4.8% in 2020 as travel restrictions battered the tourism sector, a key earner in the East African country where growth was expected to remain muted in 2021.
The IMF said Tanzania faced "urgent" health, economic and humanitarian costs as a reported third wave of the pandemic swept the country.
"The Covid-19 pandemic has negatively impacted Tanzania's macroeconomic outlook, and the health and wellbeing of its population," Bo Li, IMF deputy managing director, said in a statement announcing the emergency funding on Tuesday.
The IMF said the pandemic-induced economic downturn had increased poverty and unemployment and increased debt risk, mainly due to the "collapse" of the tourism sector.
Tanzania launched a coronavirus vaccination drive in July in a clear departure from the deeply Covid-sceptic policies of John Magufuli, the country's late leader who downplayed the disease for most of the pandemic. - Nampa/AFP
The Washington DC-based lender approved US$567 million in Covid-19 support for Tanzania, which until recently was an outlier in the global fight against the coronavirus and dismissed the gravity of the disease.
Its economy slowed to 4.8% in 2020 as travel restrictions battered the tourism sector, a key earner in the East African country where growth was expected to remain muted in 2021.
The IMF said Tanzania faced "urgent" health, economic and humanitarian costs as a reported third wave of the pandemic swept the country.
"The Covid-19 pandemic has negatively impacted Tanzania's macroeconomic outlook, and the health and wellbeing of its population," Bo Li, IMF deputy managing director, said in a statement announcing the emergency funding on Tuesday.
The IMF said the pandemic-induced economic downturn had increased poverty and unemployment and increased debt risk, mainly due to the "collapse" of the tourism sector.
Tanzania launched a coronavirus vaccination drive in July in a clear departure from the deeply Covid-sceptic policies of John Magufuli, the country's late leader who downplayed the disease for most of the pandemic. - Nampa/AFP
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