Importers' rising appetite for pounds and dollars has depreciated the shilling.

But it showed a mixed trend against the euro, the rand and the Kenya shilling. Tanzania gets foreign exchange from tourism, exports donors but the inflows are a far cry from what the market demands.

The Citizen weekly review shows that at bureaux de change, the shilling fell against the dollar, exchanging at an average of Sh1,331.12 a dollar last week, down from Sh1,326.94 a week earlier.

An average of Sh2,178.24 was exchanged for a pound last week compared with Sh2,169.33 the preceding week. Sh1,959.95 was exchanged for a euro last week from Sh1,969.28 last week while Sh168.87 was exchanged for a rand compared with Sh170.65.

The Kenya shilling lost to the local unit, exchanging at an average of Sh17.31 a Ksh last week compared with Sh17.41 a week earlier, bureaux data indicated.

In commercial banks, an average of Sh1,319.87 was exchanged for a dollar last week, down from Sh1,317.18 the preceding week.

The domestic currency lost against the pound, exchanging at an average of Sh2,185.53 a sterling last week compared with Sh2,172.08 the previous week. It depreciated to the euro, exchanging at an average of Sh1,961.38 a euro last week, from Sh1,969.28 a euro the previous week.

It also lost against the rand, exchanging at an average of 169.75 a rand last week compared with Sh172.43 a week earlier.

However, the local unit strengthened over the Kenya currency, exchanging at an average of Sh17.25 for two weeks running.