THE Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB) has extended a historic dividend pay-out worth 5.58bn/- to the central government from the profit it generated in 2024.

The dividend declared last Thursday during the bank’s annual general meeting (AGM) is 556 percent higher than the 2023 dividend, which stood at 850mn/-.

Frank Nyabundege, TADB’s Managing Director, told journalists in Dar es Salaam that the historic dividend is attributed to the strong financial performance to increased loan disbursements across agriculture value chains.

“In 2024, the bank’s profit before tax rose from 18.8bn/- to 24.7bn/-, reflecting a growth of 31 percent. This was driven by a 41 percent growth in net interest income, reflecting growth in the loan portfolio and strategic investments in high-yield financial assets,” said Nyabundege.

According to him, loans and advances to customers increased by 61 percent from 331bn/- in 2023 to 534bn/- in 2024, while the bank’s total assets surged from 607bn/- to 917bn/-, representing a growth of 51 percent.

Nyabundege said that despite the growth in loans and advances, the bank’s non-performing loans have improved from 3.8 percent in 2023 to 2.7 percent in 2024, reflecting enhanced quality of loans.

He asserted that to enhance its footprint, the bank opened a new Western Zone office in Tabora, expanding services to the regions of Katavi, Kigoma, and Tabora itself.

According to Nyabundege, the government has issued funds to boost the bank’s capital from 60bn/- in March 2021 as in October of the same year, another 208bn/- was injected from the Treasury.

In 2022 the bank was issued with another 210bn/-, in 2023 it was issued with 25bn/- and this year the bank has been allocated with additional investment capital amounting 170bn/- to grow its capital.

"The central government, through the Treasury, has provided the bank with a total of 613bn/- since 2021 so that it can provide low-interest loans;

The bank's capital has grown to 490bn/—from an average of 300bn/—in 2021, making it one of the banks with large working capital," said Nyabundege.

Mohammed Nyasama, Director of Planning and Research at the Treasury, commended the bank’s outstanding performance, reaffirming the government’s perspective on the bank as a strategic institution for agricultural transformation.

Nyasama said that TADB continues to perform strongly. He commended the stability, growth, and successful expansion of services in Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar.

Ishmael Kasekwa, Chairman of TADB’s Board of Directors, reaffirmed the board’s commitment to sound governance and professionalism in fulfilling the bank’s development mandate.

“Growth in profits translates that the bank’s officials are working tirelessly in ensuring that they walk the talk by the President in delivering to the general public, especially to communities employed in the agricultural value chain,” he said.