BLBG:Tanzania Shilling Weakens as Manufacturers Purchase Dollars
Tanzania’s shilling weakened against the dollar as manufacturers purchased the U.S. currency.
The currency of East Africa’s second-biggest economy lost as much as 0.6 percent at 1,645 per dollar, and traded down 0.1 percent at 1,636.5 by 1:44 p.m. in Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital.
“We have seen this morning more demand for the dollar coming in from the manufacturing sector, particularly food and beverages,” Eric Chijoriga, a trader with National Bank of Commerce Ltd., Absa Group Ltd.’s Tanzanian unit, said by phone from Dar es Salaam.
Tanzania’s current-account deficit expanded 76 percent to $1.2 billion in the second quarter compared with the previous three months, the Bank of Tanzania said in an e-mailed report today. Imports increased 20 percent to $2.3 billion, while exports dropped 14 percent to $964.2 million.
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
