In an effort to address the dollar shortage in the country, the Central Bank of Tanzania (BoT) sold a total of 155.8 million US dollars to various banks between January and April 2024.
Deputy Minister of State in the President's Office (Finance and Plan- ning), Mr Juma Makungu Juma, stated that the sales were conducted through the Inter-Bank Foreign Ex- change Market (IFEM) to increase the liquidity of the US dollar and facilitate imports of various products and services from abroad.
"Under this program, 18 local banks have ben- efited, with a focus on oil (20.35 per cent), business (24.4 per cent), and industry (6.16 per cent)," he recently mentioned.
He unveiled other strategies being implemented to address the USD shortage, such as promoting forex bureau de change.
Also read: https://dailynews.co.tz/bot-injects-100-million-us-dollars-to-prop-up-shilling/
By April this year, BoT had issued 21 licenses with 100 branches, compared to 12 licenses with 81 branches as of December 2023.
"The government, through BoT, has improved financial legislation, emphasizing the avoidance of using the US dollar locally, and has long-term plans to strengthen domestic production to reduce imports," he added.
He noted that foreign reserves have been im- proved, and BoT has conducted currency swaps worth 147 million US dollars with commercial banks.
BoT has been implementing the 'Foreign Exchange Intervention Policy, 2023' since January 2024.
