DAR ES SALAAM, June 3 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian Minister for Finance and Planning Philip Mpango admitted in parliament on Monday that new loans secured by the government for implementation of mega projects was among reasons contributing to an increase of the national debt.
Mpango said the national debt increased from 49.86 trillion Tanzanian shillings (about 21.7 billion U.S. dollars) in April 2018 to 51.03 trillion shillings in April 2019.
Asking parliament to approve his ministry's 11.9 trillion shillings budget estimates for the 2019/2020 fiscal year, Mpango mentioned mega projects including construction of the terminal III of the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam and the standard gauge railway.
However, he said, the national debt that increased by 2.35 percent during the last 12 months was sustainable, adding that of the total debt, 13.25 trillion shillings was secured domestically while 37.78 trillion shillings was sourced from outside the country.
Mpango told the House in the capital Dodoma that the ministry evaluated the national debt annually to measure its sustainability.
He said in 2018/2019, the government allocated 1.41 trillion shillings for payment of domestic loans' interests.
Mpango added that the government allocated 1.66 trillion shillings for payment of foreign capital debt and that 1.23 trillion shillings has been paid by April 2019, which is equivalent to 74.10 percent of the target.
