TANZANIA'S debut Eurobond could be up to $1 billion
and is likely to be issued in the second half of 2014, Tanzania's Central Bank
Governor Benno Ndulu said on Wednesday.Tanzanian officials want to build new roads,
railways, ports and to tap the country's vast natural gas and coal reserves to
end chronic energy shortages.
Ndulu said the government has yet to decide the size
of the bond but expects it to be between $500 million and $1 billion.
"Anything up to a billion should make sense," he told Reuters on the
sidelines of a mobile money telephony conference in Kenya.
Ndulu added the previous plan to issue the bond in
the 2013/2014 financial year ending June will be difficult to pull off and
therefore it would be "more realistic (to assume it will be issued) during
the first quarter of the new financial year".
The economy is seen expanding at around 7 percent
over the next few years and the government has stepped up borrowing to fund the
country's growing infrastructure needs.
Ndulu said Tanzania is also on course to rein in its
large current account deficit, which the International Monetary Fund put at
13.5 percent in the fiscal year 2012/2013, some way above the government's
target of 5 percent or below.
"We are working hard to bring it down back to 5
percent this year and I think we may be able to do that," Ndulu added.
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