Tanzania relaxes bureau de change rules to curb dollar crisis

Dar es Salaam. The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) has said that the decision to relax the bureau de change regulations will, among other things, help remove dollars from the informal system to the official system.

BoT, Directorate of Economic Research and Policy, senior economist, Dr Lusajo Mwankemwa, said this at the weekend during a media training on the new interest rate-based policy framework in Zanzibar.

Given this, the country currently has 18 Bureaus de Change, with several in the application line. 

He said the BoT has come up with several policies that will tackle the dollar shortage in the country.

“We have an adequate dollar reserve in the country, but because some of it is not in the formal sector, it becomes difficult to access it.  According to him, the global crisis had affected the world, including Tanzania and that was why they were coming up with measures to reduce the problem.

Further noting that BOT plans to review bureau de change regulations will help to pull the dollars out of the informal sector to the formal sector for easier accessibility.

BoT issued new Foreign Exchange (Bureau de Change) Regulations, which revoke the Foreign Exchange (Bureau de Change) Regulations, 2019.

The Central Bank released a statement in October stating that the new regulations have been issued under the Foreign Exchange Act through Government Notice No. 730 of 2023, published in the Government Gazette on October 6, 2023.

The Regulations have introduced, among other things, three classes of Bureau de Change licences, which are classes A, B, and C.

For his part, BoT Senior Principle Bank Examinor, Microfinance Supervision Department, Deogratius Mnyamani, said the Central Bank has issued permits to 18 bureau de change that are currently operating.

“There are more applications for bureau de change operations that are currently under review,” he said.

According to reports, the Foreign Exchange (Bureau de Change) Regulations, which came into force on June 7, 2019, revoked the 2015 Foreign Exchange (Bureau de Change) Regulations.

All bureaux de change licenced by the BoT to operate on the Tanzanian mainland and Zanzibar will be required to comply with the changes in the Foreign Exchange (Bureau de Change) Regulations.

The applicants for bureau de change services were required to give assurance that a capital of not less than Sh1 billion has been set aside for the business.