THE government has mandated the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) to import and store sugar to address scarcity of the sweatner, an oft repeated drawback.

Finance minister Dr Mwigulu Nchemba unveiled this development in winding-up discussions on the central government 2024/2025 Budget estimates in the National Assembly yesterday.

He said NFRA was going to address the challenges that include rises in prices for the sweetener raising concerns among the public.

“We will now use NFRA to purchase and store sugar as the agency has been helpful in storing other food crops,” he said, pointing out that sugar producers will now be required to disclose the cost of production as well as publishing distributors in each region.

NFRA will remove the system of having only five agents throughout the country, he said, elaborating that the government will set up a system to manage the sugar price cap for the benefit of consumers and remove the system of monopoly self-determination among local sugar producers who were also mandated as sole importers.

Sugar production companies will be required to sign an annual performance agreement with the Sugar Board of Tanzania (SBT) while ending their sugar import mandate, remaining with production roles, he explained.

He said the government has been issuing tax waivers and exemptions but such moves have not often benefited common people as traders seize the opportunity to keep prices high and their tax obligations low or negligible.  

"We have been giving exemptions on sanitary pads but nothing changed,” he said, also pointing at fuel subsidies, rejecting demands in relation to sanitary pads customs duty waiver.

He similarly addressed payments of contractors,k citing  pile up of unpaid claims with contractorsnot knowing when their claims would be paid, noting that the government has made efforts to largely pay out those claims.

He said the government will take a lead in the use of gaso in vehicles, while affirming that there is no need for the traders to strike as the government is responsive to their complaints.

Hamad Hassan Chande, the deputy minister, referred to a seven percent increase in salary for pension calculation, insisting that many in trade union ranks have shown appreciation for the move, as well as MPs.

He also pledged to work on concerns by the Budget Committee regarding loans taken out by the government for production projects.