Browsing: Bank of Tanzania (BoT)

• Tanzania is Africa’s fourth-largest gold producer and ranks 18 in the world.
• The country is ramping up production of the precious metal, targeting over 6 tonnes of gold annually.
• Gold miners and traders asked to allocate no less than 20% of their gold output to Central Bank of Tanzania.

Tanzania’s national gold reserve is growing and recent push geared at speeding up the growth of the country’s reserves signal to better days ahead for the nation’s currency. In the latest move, Tanzania has ordered all gold miners and traders to allocate no less than 20 per cent of their gold output to its central bank.

According to the Central Bank of Tanzania (BoT), this strategy is meant to help the country diversify its foreign reserves. By boosting its gold reserves, Tanzania hopes to offset the depreciation pressure facing the Tanzanian shilling.

According to authorities in the country; “This diversification intends …

• Tanzania inflation hits five year high
• Zanzibar bans export of food commodoties ahead of Holy Month
• China reopens market, expected to speed global recovery

Tanzania’s annual inflation rate has hit its highest point in five years clocking 4.9% in January 2023 and at the close of February the rate was no better.

According to the Tanzania Central Bank The Bank of Tanzania (BoT), the prices of food & non-alcoholic beverages went up by 9.9% up from 9.7% in December of last year.

The BoT monthly economic update report showed similar increase in prices across all sectors and indicator that the cost of living in Tanzania has increased drastically. Wit no matching increase in income, this means that the burden of acquiring daily basic needs like food has become worse for Tanzanians.

With percentages in the brackets here are how several sectors are suffering from price increase in Tanzania: Transportation (6.2% …

The falling price of crude oil spells good favour for importers in Africa. The price of crude has been on a steady drop despite attempts by producers to cut output. As a result, many African countries are taking advantage of the situation and stock piling their reserves.

Take for instance the case of East Africa, crude oil represents more than 20 percent of Tanzania’s annual imports. So a drop in price of crude means the country can afford to buy more and reserve for future use. However no official report has been issued as to the government policy on the matter.

The issue that arises here is the matter of crude versus refined oil. Africa, Tanzania included, imports refined oil which is more costly than crude but with falling prices of crude then follows that  even the price of refined oil has taken a dive

As such, the country is …

East Africans should brace themselves for an increase in the cost of living as households and businesses pay more for goods and services.

Regional currencies are facing increased pressure against the dollar as increasing debt levels and increased servicing obligations threaten to wear down foreign exchange reserves, market data shows.

The projected drop of regional currencies is mainly attributed to the growing debt servicing obligations for foreign currency-denominated debts. To pay off external creditors, it requires a drawdown of the country’s foreign reserves.

According to analysts at AIB Capital, as a pick-up in consumer demand increases imports, the Kenya shilling is expected to further depreciate against the dollar. The country’s exports are likely to remain relatively uncompetitive therefore, this will lead to an increase in the current account deficit.

“We expect the shilling to gradually depreciate against the dollar but remain relatively unchanged against the euro and pound,” said AIB.…

Tanzania’s Central bank, the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) has pledged 500m/-  in soft loans to the country’s artisanal gold miners.

The loans will be extended via the 13-year-old artisanal miners’ empowerment scheme dubbed the Small and Medium Enterprises Credit Guarantee Scheme (SME-CGS).

Under the scheme, the artisanal miners are guaranteed working capital from commercial banks in their respective areas of operation. The way it works is that the central bank guarantees the commercial bank up to 50% of the loan amount that the miner applies for. On the other hand,  the recipient is then responsible to cover the remaining 50%.

This scheme was passed into law by the Act of 2006 which stipulates that when the loan is passed then the responsible financial institutions pays one per cent of the guaranteed loans to the central banks.

To secure these soft loans requires a business plan complete with financial plans detailing …