Tanzanian shilling holds steady

BY BUSINESS REPORTER

THE Tanzanian shilling has during the course of the week been holding steady but may strengthen slightly due to dollar sales from the central bank and subdued demand for greenbacks.

Commercial banks in Dar es Salaam quoted the shilling at 1,589/1,599 to the dollar at Thursday's close, weaker than last Wednesday's 1,578/1,588. Markets were closed in Tanzania last Thursday for a public holiday.

"The shilling is expected to remain stable next week or marginally appreciate because of the continued strong intervention of the central bank in the market," said Theopistar Mnale, a trader at Tanzania Investment Bank.

"We are not seeing any huge demand at the moment and the central bank has instructed banks to inform it if they get any big demands so it can intensify the supply of dollars to ensure the shilling does not fall."

Traders said they expected the shilling to trade in the 1,580-1,590 range in the coming days.

"The shilling has been getting support from the central bank and it might even appreciate somewhat next week if we get enough month-end dollar inflows," said Hakim Sheikh, a trader at Commercial Bank of Africa, Tanzania.

In the past week, the Bank of Tanzania traded $45.38 million on the interbank FX Market, according to its website.