The chief executive officer for Azania Bank, Mr Charles Itembe 

In Summary
The chief executive officer for Azania Bank, Mr Charles Itembe said industrialization at the weekend that industrialization requires proper infrastructure and improvement in several aspects related to the business climate.

A banker has urged the government to invest massively in power supply, technological development and human resources if the country’s industrialization goal is to take shape.

The chief executive officer for Azania Bank, Mr Charles Itembe said industrialization at the weekend that industrialization requires proper infrastructure and improvement in several aspects related to the business climate.

"Sustainable infrastructures such as railways systems and roads must be strengthened to ease transportation of raw materials and finished goods from and to rural and urban areas," Mr Itembe told the bank’s stakeholders in Mwanza at the weekend.

He mentioned other key issues to be addressed by the government as good investment environment through legal and tax systems, price stabilization and domestic market expansion.

His bank, he said, has opened a special window that specifically caters to the needs of the industrial sector, calling for other financial institutions in the country to support industrialization plans.

"The agricultural sector is an important tool for achieving industrialization and we must invest in industries that will consume agricultural raw materials," he added.

For his part, one of the bank’s clients who attended the event, Mr Zephaniah Mugasa, asked the bank to reduce interest rates to its customers, a request which Mr Itembe said will be implemented based on market conditions and interest rates from the Bank of Tanzania.

A prominent Mwanza Businessman Mr Christopher Gachuma asked financial institutions to support industrial development by investing on long-term loans for infrastructure construction companies due to late payment from the government and other public institutions.

The fifth phase of government is implementing industrial policy aiming to take the country to middle income come 2025.

Despite developing economic growth in the production and marketing of industrial products within and outside the country, the policy will also increase and promote employment, especially to youth.

The Citizen