As concessional financing and budget support become increasingly uncertain for many African countries, Tanzania is looking for new room to manoeuvre to keep funding its infrastructure projects. With gold prices at record highs, the country plans to draw on part of its bullion reserves.

Tanzania plans to sell part of its gold reserves to fund infrastructure investment, Planning and Investment Minister Kitila Mkumbo said on Monday in London.

He said the decision followed a directive from President Samia Suluhu Hassan to the central bank.

“Governments are no longer interested in providing aid to Africa so we are reorganizing ourselves,” the minister said.

The Bank of Tanzania has been instructed to carry out a partial sale of the country’s gold reserves, Bloomberg reported. The amount to be sold, the timeline, and the operational details have not been disclosed.

According to data published last week by the central bank, Tanzania’s gold reserves stood at about $1.3 billion at the end of December 2025.

A less favourable environment for development aid

The announcement comes at a time when official development assistance is declining worldwide. Several Western countries have recently reduced their commitments, shifting budget priorities toward domestic spending, particularly in defence and security.

In the United States, an initiative launched by President Donald Trump led to the closure of the USAID, which had been one of the country’s main instruments of bilateral cooperation for more than sixty years.

In the United Kingdom, the government announced in early 2025 that the aid budget would be gradually reduced from 0.5% to 0.3% of gross national income by 2027 to finance higher defence and security spending.

Similar adjustments have also been introduced in France, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany, in varying proportions, according to media reports.

For Tanzania, the timing is particularly sensitive as the country has recently faced criticism from the European Union following the disputed presidential election of October 2025, which returned Samia Suluhu Hassan to power.

In November 2025, the European Parliament adopted a non-binding resolution calling for the suspension of a 156 million euro aid programme. The European Commission has, however, said it is continuing dialogue with Tanzanian authorities without announcing a final decision.

Gold, a pillar of Tanzania’s mining economy

While further details of the planned sale are still pending, the initiative underscores the central role gold plays in Tanzania’s economy. The country is among Africa’s leading producers of the metal, with output estimated at 52 tonnes in 2023, according to the World Gold Council. Bank of Tanzania data show that gold accounted for 22.5% of national exports that year, valued at about $3.05 billion.

The mining sector contributed nearly 9.9% of gross domestic product and around 15% of tax revenues.

Authorities have tightened oversight of the gold sector in recent years. In September 2023, a programme was launched to purchase gold from local miners for the central bank, in order to strengthen foreign exchange reserves. One year later, a new measure required mining companies and traders to sell 20% of their gold export proceeds to the Bank of Tanzania.

Louis-Nino Kansoun