Dar es Salaam. The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) has issued a strong warning to currency dealers suspected of hoarding US dollars to manipulate the black market amid the ongoing currency crisis.
Mr. Emmanuel Tutuba, the governor of the central bank, emphasized that the government is actively implementing measures to increase the supply of dollars.
He cautioned dealers suspected of withholding currency, highlighting the potential risks they face in the evolving economic landscape.
“I believe that those engaging in black market activities will face significant losses in the future because the economy is opening up and global economic risks are decreasing,” stated Mr. Tutuba during a meeting last week with stakeholders in the hospitality industry.
The governor expressed concern that foreign currency, particularly from hotels, is still finding its way into the black market.
He urged hotels to acquire licenses for currency exchange operations to ensure compliance with regulations. However, by March 2024, only one hotel had applied for a license, yet the Foreign Exchange Bureaus Regulations were amended in October 2023.
Additionally, Tutuba assured that the central bank remains committed to ensuring the availability of foreign currency and supporting legitimate forex market activities. At the same time, strict action will be taken against any illegal trading practices.
This warning coincided with the central bank’s recent sale of $100 million, part of broader efforts to ease foreign currency supply constraints in the country.
During a recent meeting with experts from the public and private sectors at the Technical Level Strategic Dialogue, Finance Minister Mwigulu Nchemba also hinted at the government’s efforts to find a way out of the current dollar shortage. He said that there could be light at the end of the dark tunnel once the country’s megaprojects start operations. According to him, the acquisition of raw materials for the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) and Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project (JNHPP) will require substantial foreign currency. “Once these projects conclude, the dollar crisis will be history,” he said.
At the height of the dollar crisis in mid-2023, the government intensified measures to alleviate the US dollar shortage in the country, which included providing export credit guarantee schemes and increasing exports by supporting local businesses.
Other steps taken by the government include the purchase of gold, where about 400 kg of gold were bought by July to reinforce the national reserve and provide a shield against the volatile greenback.
The dollar crisis in Tanzania is attributed to a combination of different factors, which include a shift in international trade dynamics, fluctuations in commodity prices, and geopolitical tensions. All these factors negatively affected the country’s economic activities.
However, a raft of measures, including a crackdown on the black market, have seen a gradual improvement in accessing the US currency, although businesses are yet to recover to pre-crisis levels where huge sums of the dollar were readily available at various financial institutions.
Today, many traders still can’t guarantee access to the US dollar, a situation which has continued to disrupt businesses by driving up costs of operation and trimming profit margins.
In the market, there are two parallel exchange rates, with lenders buying and selling well above BoT indicative figures and those on the front boards.
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Monrovia — The Rwanda Minister of State responsible for Health, Dr. Yvan Butera, cautioned that while the country is beginning to see positive signals in its fight against the Marburg virus, the outbreak is “not yet over”. He, however, expressed hope that “we are headed in that direction”. The minister said the epidemiology trend, since the disease was first discovered in the country more than a month ago, is moving towards fewer cases.
Dr. Butera, who was giving updates during an online briefing yesterday, said in the past two weeks, only two deaths were recorded while 14 people recovered from the disease. He said Rwanda was expanding its testing capacity with 16,000 people already inoculated against the disease.
The priority right now, Butera said, is “rapid testing and detection”.
Marburg is a highly virulent disease transmitted through human-to-human contact or contact with an infected animal. The fatality rate of cases, which has varied over the period, is more than 50%, according to the World Health Organization. WHO said the highest number of new confirmed cases in Rwanda were reported in the first two weeks of the outbreak. There’s been a “sharp decline” in the last few weeks, with the country now tackling over 60 cases.
At Thursday’s briefing, a senior official of the Africa Centers for Disease Control, Dr. Ngashi Ngongo, said mpox – the other infectious disease outbreak that countries in the region are fighting – was been reported in 19 countries, with Mauritius being the latest country to confirm a case. He said although no new cases have been recorded in recent weeks in several countries where outbreaks occurred previously – including Cameroon, South Africa, Guinea, and Gabon – Uganda confirmed its first Mpox death. This, he said, is one of two fatalities reported outside Central Africa.
Dr. Ngashi revealed that there was an increase in cases in Liberia and Uganda. He said mpox cases were still on an upward trend.
“The situation is not yet under control.”
Source: allafrica.com
