BLBG:Tanzania Shilling Heads for 17-Year Low as Banks Demand Dollars
Tanzania’s shilling weakened to a 17-year low against the dollar as commercial banks increased demand for the U.S. currency.
The currency of East Africa’s second biggest economy lost as much as 1.7 percent to 1,659.7 per dollar, the weakest since October 1994, and traded 0.1 percent down at 1,634.5 by 12:44 p.m in Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital.
“It is interbank trade that is influencing the shilling movement today,” Eric Chijoriga, a trader with National Bank of Commerce, Absa Group Ltd.’s Tanzanian unit, said by phone. “More banks have been demanding dollars which caused the shilling to depreciate sharply.”
To contact the reporter on this story: David Malingha Doya in Dar es Salaam via Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net
