EDITORIAL: BoT must engage stakeholders

The Bank of Tanzania (BoT)’s resolve to further tighten the screws on money laundering by reviewing the bureaux de change regulations of 2015 is welcome. It is encouraging that the central bank has, for the past three years, been taking measures to improve transparency in foreign currency trade.

For a long time, some bureaux de change have been used as conduits of money laundering. This has caused huge losses to the government in terms of lower revenues. Lower revenues translate to poor services to Tanzanians. This is why the BoT needs to keep on fighting this financial crime with everything in its power.

Most recently, the central bank launched a crackdown on Arusha-based bureaux de change to root out those that did not comply with laws governing the industry. Last year, it also revised the capital and modus operandi of all bureaux de change as part of plans to plug loopholes that created room for financial crime.

The BoT has explained that the measures it’s taking are aimed at improving supervisory role. We commend the central bank for taking decisive steps to address this issue. The billions of shillings that the country is probably losing in financial crime could otherwise be used to build roads, hospitals , schools and other facilities that can help uplift the life of ordinary Tanzanians.

This is a fight that calls for unity of purpose between the central bank, government departments and law enforcement agencies. There is a need to boost BoT’s ability to fight financial crime.