DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Tanzania will plug a financing deficit from a delayed Eurobond issue by raising between $500-$700 million through syndicated loans, infrastructure bonds or domestic borrowing, a senior minister said.
The east African country was forced to suspended issuing its debut sovereign bond in 2008, along with neighbouring Kenya and Uganda, because of the global financial crisis.
"I will be able to get between $500 and $700 million outside government systems, through borrowing, either through syndicated loans or through the banking system or through local borrowing," Finance Minister Mustafa Mkulo told Reuters late on Tuesday.
Mkulo said the money raised will fund expenditure for the 2010/11 fiscal year starting in July. The spending plan for that year will be read on June 10, he said.
Tanzania reopened the process of issuing its first ever Eurobond earlier this year but Mkulo said it would take at least another 12 months before the process was complete.
"But the government needs to spend today, so what will the government do? In the interim, we have some propositions on how we can get some financing," he said.
"My ministry is already discussing with some of these banks".
Reuters Africa
