The Tanzanian government has been dismayed by a decision of the Danish government to reduce by 20 percent its general budget support to Tanzania.

Local English newspaper Daily News on Saturday quoted Gray Mgonja, permanent secretary in the Tanzanian ministry of finance, as saying that the decision had been hurriedly taken.

The government official also told the newspaper that the reasons cited by the Danish government did not suffice and that Denmark was the only donor country that had taken such a move.

The Danish Embassy in Dar es Salaam issued on Wednesday a statement saying that Tanzania had lost 4.1 billion shillings (3. 15 million U.S. dollars) in gross budget support after having failed to fulfill its commitment to present the anti-corruption legislation in the parliament in November.

The Tanzanian government has scheduled to table the anti- corruption bill to the next parliamentary session to open in February next year, the official added.

"Enactment of anti-corruption measures was part of a performance assessment that all donor countries wanted to be assured of," Mgonja said, "But we are surprised why only Denmark has decided to take such a harsh decision."

The official explained that the government had already made it clear to donor countries why the bill was not tabled in November as previously planned, saying that the government had wanted people's opinion about the contents of the bill before it was tabled.

Source: Xinhua