Overview of Aid in Tanzania
Tanzania is one of the largest recipient’s countries of foreign aid in Sub-Sahara Africa. Approximately 35% of government spending is dependent on foreign aid (Fiscal Year 2008/2009). For fiscal Year 2007/2008 total Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) to Tanzania provided by 40 Development Partners amounted to approximately USD 2 billion. This includes assistance in the form of grants, concessional loans and debt relief. Aid management in Tanzania is guided by the Joint Assistance Strategy (JAST) jointly developed by the government and development partners in order to enhance aid effectiveness at country level.
There are three modalities used to provide assistance to Tanzania: General Budget support (GBS), Basket Funds (BFs) and direct project funds, with the GBS being the most preferred mode since it is consistent with the government’s legal framework and processes. In the FY 2007/8 GBS amounted to USD 673 million compared to USD 277 million in FY 2002/03.
Total Overseas Development Assistance by Aid Modality for FY 2002/03-2007/08 (USD)
| Type of Modality 2002/03 | 2003/04 | 2004/5 | 2005/06 | 2006/07 | 2007/08 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Budget Support (GBS) | 279.04 | 458.61 | 393.01 | 501.28 | 698.83 |
| Basket Funds | 168.44 | 80.96 | 320.88 | 253.51 | 136.76 |
| Project Funds | 385.86 | 269.06 | 604.60 | 421.79 | 526.87 |
| Total Disbursements | 833.34 | 808.62 | 1,318.49 | 1,176.58 | 1,362.46 |
Source: (Ministry of Finance, 2008)
Despite GBS being the preferred mode, a large proportion of aid assistance to Tanzania continues to be delivered through project modality which in many instances remain off-budget and outside the government system. As a result more efforts are being taken to encourage more donors to shift away from the individual programmes and area based projects towards programme-based and to GBS, through the JAST framework.
For general information about Tanzania please go to www.tanzania.go.tz