For much of the past decade, Tanzania’s economy has been one of the most buoyant in Africa. Since 2004, gross domestic product (GDP) has expanded by 6% or more annually in real terms.
Banks have benefited handsomely from this robustness. Asset growth among the largest local operators is not as fast as during the few years up to 2009, when it reached about 45%, but it is still as high as 25%. And many are making returns on assets of 2.5% to 3%, ranking them among the most profitable lenders in Africa. “The favourable developments in the economy have definitely had an impact on the banks, which have been growing quite rapidly,” says Mark Wiessing, chief executive of National Microfinance Bank (NMB), the largest lender in the country by Tier 1 capital, according to The Banker Database.
