Magufuli rules out bailout for struggling banks

Tanzania’s President John Magufuli

Tanzania’s President John Magufuli has ordered the country’s central bank not to bail out any struggling banks as East Africa’s third-largest economy tries to control rising bad debts.

A spike in non-performing loans over the past two years has hit local bank profits and choked off new lending to the private sector, undermining economic growth.

Magufuli accused the lenders of misappropriating taxpayers’ funds used to bail them out in the past.