Dar es Salaam. The Office of the Treasury Registrar (OTR) on Tuesday, August 12, 2026, held talks with Fitch Ratings Ltd as part of the rating agency’s second 2026 Sovereign Credit Rating Review of Tanzania, one of a series of engagements with Government institutions under the review.
Discussions at OTR focused on the performance of public institutions, ongoing reforms, fiscal risks, and financial flows between the Government and state-owned enterprises.
Earlier this year, Fitch Ratings reaffirmed Tanzania’s long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating at ‘B+’ with a stable outlook, citing the country’s robust growth trajectory and fiscal resilience following the 2025 General Election.
The affirmation follows a similar move by Moody’s Ratings in February, which maintained Tanzania’s rating at ‘B1’ with a stable outlook, signalling broadly consistent assessments by major international credit rating agencies of the country’s economic outlook.
Fitch projects real GDP growth of 6 per cent in 2026, significantly above the 4.5 per cent median for countries rated ‘B’.
Against this backdrop, Treasury Registrar Mr Nehemiah Mchechu, who led the OTR team, briefed the Fitch team on reforms aimed at improving the performance and efficiency of public institutions, strengthening governance and accountability, and reducing their dependence on Government support.
He said OTR’s reform agenda over the past two years had placed greater emphasis on leadership, performance management and accountability, including improving the quality of boards and management teams and strengthening board evaluations to identify skills gaps.
The reforms have been supported by a more structured performance management system.
OTR has engaged 13 consulting firms to support performance appraisals across public institutions, using five key indicators: financial performance, sector-specific targets, governance, people and customer-related performance.
The weighting varies according to the nature of each institution.
Mr Mchechu said the impact of the reforms was increasingly reflected in the financial contribution of public institutions to the Government.
During the financial year ended June 30, 2026, institutions under the Treasury Registrar contributed approximately Sh1.881 trillion to the Government through dividends and other contributions, up from Sh1.028 trillion in the previous financial year.
“What we are seeing is the desire of institutions to start contributing, or to increase their contributions to the Government,” Mr Mchechu said.
He added that institutions that continue to require Government support are increasingly expected to demonstrate how they are reducing their dependence, while noting that the Government’s overall net financial position in relation to public institutions remains positive after considering financial flows in both directions.
Mr Mchechu also explained that earlier figures associated with contingent liabilities covered a broader range of Government exposures and were not specific to public corporations.
He said restructuring and capitalisation measures involving institutions such as the Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (TANESCO) and The Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) had helped reduce such exposures and strengthen their balance sheets.
The Fitch team also sought information on plans to take selected public institutions to the capital market.
Mr Mchechu said the Government was not pursuing blanket privatisation but was considering initial public offerings (IPOs) for suitable institutions as part of efforts to restructure, stabilise and improve their performance.
Tanzania Commercial Bank (TCB) is among the institutions being prepared for a potential IPO, while the National Insurance Corporation (NIC) is also being assessed for possible listing.
The longer-term objective is to restructure, stabilise and list a number of suitable public institutions before 2030.
Mr Mchechu further said OTR had given 58 public entities greater operational autonomy, enabling them to operate within their mandates while remaining accountable for performance.
He said the reforms had also strengthened OTR’s internal capacity, particularly in business analysis, enabling the Office to better scrutinise public entities’ budgets, investments and strategic plans.
The Treasury Registrar noted improved cooperation between OTR and sector ministries, with the relationship increasingly focused on ensuring that public institutions deliver on Government priorities.
“It’s no longer about ‘you should do this and not that,’ but ‘how are you getting this institution to deliver what the President wants?’” Mr Mchechu said.
The Fitch delegation was led by Mr José Mantero, Associate Director and primary analyst responsible for Tanzania, accompanied by Ms Gaimin Nonyane, Director in Fitch Ratings’ Sovereign and Supranational Group, and Mr Gerard Arabian, Vice President and Sovereign Advisor – Public Sector Group Corporate Banking.
Mr Mantero said Fitch was seeking a deeper understanding of OTR’s reform agenda for public enterprises, particularly efforts to improve institutional performance and manage liabilities and financial flows between the Government and public institutions.
He said the review was also assessing the implications of developments in the Middle East for Tanzania, including potential effects on public finances, the balance of payments and inflation through changes in fuel and fertiliser prices.
Commenting on the government’s positive net financial position in relation to public institutions, Mr Mantero said: “This positive net flow is very good news from a fiscal perspective.”
For her part, Ms Nonyane expressed surprise at the significant improvement in contributions from public enterprises, noting that the latest contribution was equivalent to about 0.8 per cent of GDP, nearly one per cent.
Recalling that a number of Tanzanian state-owned enterprises were insolvent when she previously covered the country, she asked how this position had evolved in recent years.
The ongoing reforms are expected to further strengthen the performance and financial sustainability of public institutions, enhance their contribution to the economy and Government revenues, and support Tanzania’s broader efforts to maintain fiscal resilience and improve its credit standing.
The information shared during the engagement will contribute to Fitch Ratings’ broader assessment of Tanzania’s sovereign creditworthiness under its second 2026 Sovereign Credit Rating Review.
