Tanzania Foreign Investment News (Page 17)

THE Information and Communication Technologies Commission (ICTC) has revealed that the country is ready to deploy Artificial Intelligence (IA) whilst allaying fear among Tanzanians that the technology would not replace human labour but increase productivity.

ICTC Director-General, Dr Nkundwe Mwasaga said this recently at the Tanzania Employers Association (ATE)’s Annual General Meeting held in Dar es Salaam when making his presentation on ‘Tanzania’s readiness to adopt the IA and the future of jobs’.

“AI has not come to kill jobs, but it will change the way of working and thus increase productivity,” Dr Mwasaga asserted.

Furthermore, he said, “AI technology will change the way that people work, so Tanzanians should develop their skills and learn new areas that come with this technology.”

According to him, those new areas (professions) include robot coordinators, machine learning trainers, AI ethicist, chatbot designers and AI powered healthcare technician. In showing the readiness of the country, Dr Mwasaga said Tanzania is gearing up to honor Africa’s brightest young minds in artificial intelligence and robotics competition for the first time in October this year.

He said the competition, which is supported by the African Union (AU) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AU-NEPAD) in collaboration with the ElevateAI Institute, has been instrumental in shaping a strategy to promote the responsible use of AI across the continent.

“With a prize pool of 100,000 US dollars (more than 250m/-) the competition aims to cultivate emerging talent and create a platform for young African minds passionate about AI and robotics,” he added.

Emphasizing the significance of AI, Dr Mwasaga applauded public institutions that have embarked on the use of emerging technologies, citing an example of the High Court of Tanzania which has begun using AI to conduct and coordinate proceedings in various courts in the country, a move that will expedite the delivery of justice.

Recently, Chief Court Administrator, Professor Elisante Ole Gabriel reaffirmed the court’s commitment to integrating technology into its operations.

According to him by 2025, all of the court’s work will be done online.

“We have become the first institution to use the AI technology, thus proceedings that judges used to write 200 pages now they will only talk and once they finish to speak they press a button and it starts translating in different languages, so the work of Magistrates and Judges will be only small in making decisions,” he said.

He said the AI technology has commenced in several courts in the country as a pilot project, including the High Court of Tanzania, One stop center for probate and family matters- Temeke among others

Source: allafrica.com

Continue Reading

Tanzania has been named one of the top ten African countries with the largest investments in Mozambique over the past ten years.

The President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, revealed this on Wednesday, July 3, 2024, while officiating the 48th International Trade Fair (DITF), famously known as Sabasaba.

Highlighting the economic partnership, President Nyusi noted that between 2018 and 2023, the total external trade between the two countries in imports and exports reached $250 million, with a cumulative flow of $143 million from 2013 to 2023.

Explaining the role of DITF, President Nyusi emphasized that the exhibition will stimulate entrepreneurial growth, fostering economic development for both nations through business investments and private sector participation from both countries, along with foreign capital.

Also read: Nyusi commends Tanzania, SADC

On her part, President Samia Suluhu Hassan lauded the exhibition, attributing its success to the government’s efforts in strengthening national, regional, and international cooperation, which has boosted the inclusive economy.

Tanzania’s President said that in 2023, the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) registered 504 projects worth 5.68 billion/-, with exports increasing to 17.38 trillion/- last year from TZS 12.3 trillion in 2019.

Dr. Samia also promised to continue developing and completing infrastructure projects to facilitate business operations and transportation while encouraging local businesses to seize the exhibition opportunity to learn and prepare to serve larger domestic, regional, and international markets.

Source: allafrica.com

Continue Reading

By BOB KARASHANI

Speculation is rising over the abrupt removal of Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) Commissioner General Alphayo Kidata earlier this week against a backdrop of discontent among foreign investors and domestic traders over questionable taxation practices.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Tuesday named Zanzibar revenue chief Yusuph Juma Mwenda as the new TRA boss in place of Mr Kidata who had held the position since April 2021, moving him to an unspecified advisory role in State House.

Mr Kidata was in his second stint as the head taxman and his latest transfer came as the government prepared for discussions with members of the diplomatic corps to address a raft of complaints they raised last week about allegedly unfair taxation of foreign direct investments (FDIs) in Tanzania.

Although there has been an argument that the 60-year-old Kidata (born December 28, 1963) was already past public service retirement age, the timing of the move also coincided with a second strike within a year by local market traders protesting long-running harassment by TRA officials and agents.

Curiosity was further piqued by State House Chief Secretary Moses Kusiluka’s announcement, in the same July 2 brief, of a replacement for Industries and Trade Minister Ashatu Kijaji who was part of the government team involved in protracted talks with the traders last week.

Dr Kijaji moved to the Vice President’s Office as Minister of State responsible for Union and environmental affairs, exchanging portfolios with Selemani Jafo. No reasons were given for any of the new appointments.

Advertisement

Earlier on June 26, Tanzania-based ambassadors and high commissioners from 10 countries lodged a formal request to Foreign Affairs Minister January Makamba for a meeting to address “recent and ongoing challenges” faced by foreign investors in relation to TRA tax administration.

The envoys who signed the request letter, a copy of which was obtained by The EastAfrican, were from the United States, Canada, Britain, Ireland, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and South Korea.

They cited, among other things, “unevidenced” TRA notices demanding payments and account reconciliations dating back up to 15 years, extraordinary tax bills not supported by law, and TRA’s rejection of tax concession agreements with the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC)- another state agency – on the grounds that they had not been “gazetted.”

“Investors also report that TRA agents threaten investors and Tanzanian partners when companies protest or appeal these practices, and freeze or seize bank accounts and company assets without notification nor timely legal recourse,” the envoys’ letter stated.

According to them, TIC’s success in raising the value of FDI registrations from $3 million in 2021 to $5.5 million in 2022 had become “undermined” by the trend. They said despite undergoing regular audits by TRA and state-endorsed international audit firms, some investor companies were “now receiving notices with additional demands for tax payment.”

The envoys cited an instance where one unnamed company was issued with a Tsh1.2 billion ($455,400) tax notice requiring it to pay up “within three working days for discrepancies dating back 12 years, under the threat of having its operational accounts frozen and funds withdrawn.”

Mr Makamba responded through official correspondence the following day (June 27), pledging to convene a roundtable of the envoys, relevant government officials and representatives of aggrieved investors to address the concerns head-on, although he did not immediately specify a date.

He said for the meeting to be productive, the investors being referred to should prepare a compendium or presentation detailing their grievances, adding that “the sooner this report is presented to us, the sooner we will be able to schedule the requested meeting.”

The minister asserted that Tanzania was committed to protecting and ensuring the “ironclad” success of all FDIs and the government would “take very seriously any alleged transgression, by any public entity, that endangers the country’s reputation as an investor-friendly destination.”

Last week’s strike by traders in Dar es Salaam and other urban markets revolved around long-standing demands for a more transparent tax system in the face of constant badgering by TRA compliance inspectors.

The traders’ concerns had remained unresolved since a previous strike at the major Kariakoo market in Dar es Salaam in May last year. This time around, the government managed to cool things down with tentative promises of quick solutions in a series of talks with traders’ representatives in the administrative capital Dodoma.

Read: In Tanzania, traders strike over harassment

As part of the solutions package, TRA was instructed to set up a more efficient system involving proper documentation of receipts and invoices for traders to be assessed more accurately on what they owe in taxes at any given time and have the system operational by July 1.

Key government officials involved in the talks included Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa, Finance Minister Mwigulu Nchemba, Minister of State in the President’s Office for Planning and Investment Prof Kitila Mkumbo, and Dr Kijaji while still holding the industries and trade docket.

On their part, the foreign envoys have requested the attendance of the same cabinet ministers along with Mr Makamba and the TRA commissioner general at their own upcoming meeting.

Mr Kidata has a somewhat chequered history in the civil service, especially during the tenure of ex-president John Magufuli when he experienced several ups and downs and much shifting around.

He was TRA boss under Magufuli from January 2016 to March 2017 before being appointed permanent secretary in the Ministry of Regional Administration and Local Governments at State House. Shortly afterwards he was sent to Canada as Tanzania’s envoy, only to be recalled within 10 months, in November 2018, and stripped of his ambassadorial status in circumstances that were never made public.

Again a short time later, in September 2019, the late president appeared to have another change of heart and appointed Kidata to the relatively junior position of Mtwara regional administrative secretary. He was serving in that capacity when Samia, having succeeded Magufuli following his demise, reinstated him to the TRA pilot seat in the early weeks of her presidency.

Under his second watch at the revenue agency, Kidata presided over a steady rise in monthly tax collections that have not dipped below Tsh2 billion ($784,300) since August last year, hitting an all-time high of Tsh 3.05 billion ($1.19 million) in December 2023. 

Annual tax revenues went up 30 percent from Tsh18 trillion ($7.05 million) in 2020/21 – the last year of Magufuli’s tenure – to Tsh24 trillion ($9.41 million) by the end of the financial year 2022/23.

In Tanzania’s latest budget, TRA has been given a new collection target of Tsh29.41 trillion ($11.31 billion) for the 2024/25 fiscal year as the country aims to cover more than two-thirds (67.4 percent) of its Tsh49.35 trillion ($18.98 billion) expenditure plan through domestic financing.

Continue Reading

By VINCENT OWINO

Countries backing the Northern Corridor—a regional road connectivity project—are seeking to woo Tanzania to allow cargo headed to Burundi, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to pass through its borders to shorten transit time and ease costs in a bid to boost the attractiveness of the Mombasa port.

The Northern Corridor, a network of 1,700 km long interconnected highways, starts from the port of Mombasa and serves Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Eastern DRC.

A meeting of ministers of transport from the six-member countries of the Northern Corridor last week ordered the secretariat Northern Corridor Transit and Coordination Authority (NCTTCA) to initiate talks with Tanzania over the proposal.

If successful, Northern Corridor trucks that have traditionally had to take the longer route from Mombasa through Uganda to Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will take the shorter way through Tanzania, cutting about 400 kilometres of the travel distance.

Read: Northern Corridor truckers mull shift to Dar over tax

The council of ministers, chaired by Uganda’s Minister of Works and Transport Katumba Wamala, said using the route, which passes through Taveta into Holili in Tanzania, will “not only reduce costs of transit transport but also increase Mombasa Port throughput.”

Advertisement

The route is currently not being used by transporters because Tanzania, which is also seeking to boost the throughput at the Dar es Salaam port and the Central Corridor, has not geofenced it, preventing its use by cargo trucks destined for other countries.

The East African Community (EAC) customs union requires that trucks ferrying imported commodities be tracked using the Regional Electronic Cargo Tracking System Currently, truckers that opt for the short Taveta-Holili route have to deposit a “bond” for the cargo at the Mombasa port, submit it at the border, wait for its cancellation, then institute another one for Tanzania, a process that normally takes at least three days.

“That is why it is important that the section from Holili be geofenced. There’s a section of about 21 kilometres that has not been geofenced,” said Omae Nyarandi, executive secretary of NCTTCA.

Continue Reading