World Bank financing expected to boost incomes for Tanzanians

More than 6.6 million Tanzanians falling in the extreme poor and food-insecure category are expected to benefit from the World Bank's additional 200 million US dollars financing.

A statement issued by the bank Friday in the east African nation's business capital Dar es Salaam said the support will be carried out towards the ongoing productive social safety nets (PSSN) project.

During the first phase of PSSN (2012-2016), the project successfully created and consolidated the infrastructure needed to support a well-targeted social safety net system.

The statement said in December 2015, the project reached a targeted 1.1 million households, or approximately 6.6 million people among the extreme poor.

"The approval of the additional financing for the PSSN will consolidate the transformational impact that this project is having on the poorest households in Tanzania," said Bella Bird, World Bank Country Director for Tanzania, Burundi, Malawi and Somalia.

"As household incomes and livelihoods improve, they have been able to increase their consumption of education and health services which are crucial for their eventual self-sustenance," said Manuel Salazar, World Bank Lead Social Protection Specialist and Task Team Leader for the PSSN.

PSSN is part of a new generation of projects that the World Bank Group is implementing in the Africa region, targeting the extreme poor to create human capital to reduce poverty and inequality in the medium term. Endit