Tanzania has announced plans to invest up to $3 billion in strategic manufacturing aimed at making the country a top supplier of Industrial goods within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) before the end of the decade.
The country’s investment programme seeks to put up 500 new large industries, bringing the total large industry projects to 541.
Dr Ashatu Kijaji, the minister for Investment, Industry, and Trade says the government has also embarked on setting up the Kwala Industrial Park, which will hold 200 industries.
Their production lines include textiles, electronics, construction materials, and pharmaceuticals. The first phase is scheduled for 2024, projected to create 100,000 direct jobs and 300,000 indirect ones.
Tanzania ratified the AfCFTA on 9th September 2021, the 39th country in Africa to deposit its instrument of ratification.
The AfCFTA will be one of the world’s largest free-trade areas in terms of number of countries, reaching over 1.2 billion people and more than $4 trillion in combined consumer and business spending when all 55 countries join.
