The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group approved an African Development Fund (ADF) loan of USD 155.2 million to the United Republic of Tanzania on 16 December 2011. The loan will help support private sector reform and economic governance within the framework of the Governance and Economic Competitiveness Support Programme. The African Development Fund is the AfDB Group's concessional or 'soft loan' arm.

Tanzania's finance minister, Mustafa Haidi Mkulo, who attended the loan signing ceremony in Tunis on 10 December, welcomed the AfDB Group's continued support, particularly in the areas of private sector reform and economic governance. He assured the Bank that this ADF loan will be put to good use.

Ndoumbe Lobe, the AfDB's director for governance, economic and financial management, said: "This programme is the AfDB Group's fourth general budget support operation in Tanzania. One of its distinctive features is that it widens the scope of the AfDB's intervention to target both soft and hard enablers of private sector development, while consolidating gains and deepening reforms in public financial management and mainstreaming anti-corruption reforms."

Ndoumbe Lobe emphasised that the smooth implementation of the Governance and Economic Competiveness Support Programme would leverage the partnership between the Tanzanian authorities and the group of general budget support partners. The establishment of the AfDB's regional resource centre in Nairobi, as well as its field office in Dar es Salaam, will help deepen the group's policy dialogue and technical advice with the Tanzanian authorities and other development partners.

The AfDB Group has 23 ongoing operations in Tanzania. They include 15 national projects, two private sector operations and six multinational operations, amounting to a total commitment of around USD 945 million.