PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan has stated that fiscal performance in various public institutions has improved thanks to yearly reports of the Controller and Auditor General (CAG), shedding light on areas in need of improvement.

The president was speaking shortly after receiving the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) performance report and the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) audit reports for fiscal 2022/2023 at the State House in Dodoma yesterday.

Pledging to work on the two reports, she said that the reports help to foster transparency, increase accountability and diminish financial misconduct in public institutions.

“We have seen more district councils get unqualified reports. Indeed, this is a good achievement,” she said, commending the CAG and PCCB for outstanding work and recommendations to the government.

The government has made significant investments in improving public institutions thus leading to a reduction of qualified opinions, she said, noting that improvements enhance trust in public institutions locally and with foreign agencies.

The government will address flaws uncovered, and next year, some of them will hopefully not be repeated.

According to her, these reports helps the government to reduce losses,

“Some institutions, despite making losses, are progressing; the losses of last year are not the same as those of this year… we are making progress, and there will come a point where they will be profitable,” she stated.

Stressing that the reports boosted revenue collection, she commended the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) for intensifying anti-corruption efforts.

CAG Charles Kichere stated in presenting his report earlier, that during fiscal 2022/23, a total of 1,209 inspection certificates were issued, 222 certificates for regional administrations and local governments, 215 certificates handed to executive agencies and commercial organisations, 475 to central government departments and units, 19 to political parties and 299 certificates for development project audits.

A total of 1,197 certificates or nearly 99 percent received unqualified opinions, where audit documents show that preparation of accounts is satisfactory and that account procedures and preparation were largely satisfactory, he stated.

Factors causing losses were cited as bureaucracy, failure to observe public finance procedures and signing bad contracts.

By June 30, 2023 the national debt stood at 82.25trn/-, representing an increase of 15 per cent from 71.31trn/-registered as at the end of fiscal 2021/2022, he said, highlighting that domestic debt stood at 28.92trn/- and foreign debt 53.2trn/-, he said.

The public debt is still sustainable, he said, pointing out that for the 2022/2023 financial year, the  national carrier ,ATCL recorded a loss amounting to 56bn/-, a sharp rise from 35.24bn/- losses reported the previous year, the report indicated.

The Tanzania Telecommunications Co. Ltd (TTCL) recorded a loss of 894m/- for 2022/2023, eliminating 94 percent of the 19.23bn/- loss reported in the previous financial year, he stated.

The Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) recorded a loss amounting 100.7bn/-down from 190.01bn/- a year earlier, he said, urging public institutions to take action to improve earnings and prevent losses.

He said that the government needs to finish uncompleted projects before setting up new ones to avoid accumulated loan interest charges, pointing out that the National Audit Office failed to identify 851 groups in 19 district councils receiving 2.6bn/- as loan.

The Tanzania Electric Supply Co. Ltd (TANESCO) was supposed to obtain 262bn/- as corporate social responsibility from the contractors at the Julius Nyerere hydropower project as the contracting firms declined to offer such an amount.

Salum Hamdun, the PCCB director general, said that a total of 87.59bn/- was saved in development projects procurement bills.