Country Insight - Tanzania & Zambia

Tanzania: The Bank of Tanzania is pushing ahead with the process of securing a sovereign debt rating for the country, as part of plans to restart the launch of a Eurobond. Tanzania expects to have a sovereign rating within seven or eight months. Plans to launch a sovereign bond were shelved in 2008, as international conditions worsened. The money raised through the bonds will be mainly used for infrastructure development projects.

Zambia: The Government plans to sell its first international bond this year, raising USD 1 billion for rail and power projects. The government expects to have its first sovereign credit rating by Q3 of 2010 and will proceed with the bond sale soon after that. Zambia abandoned a plan to seek a credit rating and sell a bond abroad in 2008 after the global financial crisis sparked a sell-off of emerging market assets.