ABSA Bank Tanzania says Tanzania has been experiencing a period of sustained economic growth as shown by resilience and stability even during this cycle of global economic challenges.
The Bank's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Abdi Mohamed made the remarks in Dar es Salaam recently while giving his views on the country's economic outlook and Absa Bank plans to participate in key projects.
"The strong growth is attributed to a set of diverse sectors that provide further stability as there is limited over reliance on specific sectors," he said.
Mr Mohamed said this growth encourages Absa Bank Tanzania to continues with its commitment to re-invest in the market as demonstrated by the bank's total lending exposures which have doubled in the last few years to 612bn/-.
He said also that Absa Bank has partnered in several public sector projects like the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) Project and other infrastructure projects undertaken by the government with a pledge to continue taking part in such projects.
Furthermore, he said through Absa group has sponsored Absa Financial Market Index 2022 (AFMI) an annual publication, which is a strategic tool that can be leveraged by policy makers to drive strategic and informed decisions for the development of financial markets which is key in attracting foreign capital flows into African countries including Tanzania.
Apart from the strong economic growth that supports Absa's investment, also the bank has over the years focused on ensuring that it provides prudent financial advice to its customers and ensuring lending practices follow strict professional assessment of loan proposals.
"By doing this, we protect our customer's businesses while ensuring we minimise credit losses. Our non-performing loans position has continued to improve and is well below industry average," he said.
He added, "In some of our portfolios the NPL number is well below the required 5 per cent and we will continue to improve this performance,"
On the bank's plan on financial inclusion, Mr Mohamed said they work closely with the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) and Tanzania Bankers Association (TBA) in ensuring the inclusion agenda is prioritised.
He said Tanzania is one of the countries that have launched a comprehensive National Financial Inclusion Framework (NFIF - 2018-2022).
"Absa Bank in partnership with Tigo and Jumo has served 164,220 customers through a mobile based micro lending proposition aimed at supporting financial inclusion and increase access to credit using the mobile platform," he said.
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He said Tanzania has seen a continued shift in demographics and growth in digital adoption across multiple platforms.
Digital innovation is transforming lives in diverse areas such as telecommunication, banking, agribusiness, and healthcare provision.
"There is a vibrant start-up community and we in Absa have played a role in supporting the growth and development of these startups in partnership with local and international start-up accelerators," he said.
He said with this context of increasing digital adoption, banks must continuously innovate and provide solutions for customers.
"We also innovate and digitize to ensure that our services are seamless and hassle free for the customer. In a bid to cement our digitally led proposition, we have embarked on digital transformation journey that's inseparable from innovation," he said.
He noted further, "We are fully committed to deliver innovative solutions that help our customers get things done and this was demonstrated in 2021 when we won Best Financial Institution in using ICT at the 5th Tanzania annual ICT conference organized by the Ministry for Information, Communication, and Information Technology.
