.80% percent of real estate in Tanzania paid interms of dollars
By Damas
Makangale, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
THE
Goverment of Tanzania declared illegal the growing trend of pricing goods and
services such as real estate for Tanzanians in US dollars, saying stern
measures would be taken against those who continue with such practices in the
country.
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| House in Bahari Beach, Dar Es Salaam $ 164, 706 |
Speaking to
East African Business Week in the sidelined of the Azam Media launching event last
week in Dar es Salaam, the Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs,
Mwigulu Nchemba said that all commercial transactions should be contracted on
the local shiling.
“Any person who had come across with charging
of any transaction through dollar he or she should report the incident to the
require authority and your all aware that dollarisation of the local economy
had contributed heavily to the steady weakening of the shiling,” he said.
The Deputy Minister
directed the business community to display prices of goods and services in
Tanzanian shillings, and where the aim is to attract foreign customers, then
prices in both local and foreign currencies can be indicated.
’’No
Tanzanian should be forced to pay for goods or services in foreign currency the
legal tender in Tanzania is the Tanzanian shilling only because they are in
Tanzanian mainland,’’ he emphasized.
Nchemba
underscored that the goverment sometimes requires to have enough foreign
currecy for the purpose of importing foreign goods once the local industry
failed to produce enough goods for the public consumptions.
He warned
against businesses that peg prices in US dollars and convert them into local
currency using their own exchange rates.
’’In Tanzania, only the bureaus de change and
commercial banks are allowed to trade in currency exchange acording to the
financial and banking act,’’ he noted.
The Deputy Finance Minister pushed for increased
production of goods and services for export, to earn more foreign currency and
subsequently strengthen the shilling.
’’Our
shilling could gain strength through increased exports and trimmed imports,’’
he lamented
The tendency
of charging local goods and services in US dollars has been gaining momentum
lately, with financial experts warning that this is likely to soon render the
shilling more or less irrelevant.
Sectors most
notorious for charging in dollars are air travel, the hospitality industry,
housing and even education where some schools have been discovered to be
charging their school fees in dollars.
Some
businesses go to the extent of inventing their own exchange rates for customers
looking to pay for the goods and services in local currency.
Recently,
Tanzanian law makers told the House the use of foreign currencies in the
economy was a threat to the shilling calling the government to table a bill on
foreign currency use.
In June,
last year the Parliament Standing Committee on Economy, Industry and Trade
strongly criticized the use of the dollar in local transactions calling the
government to revoke the 2008 decree and strictly enforce the Foreign Exchange
Act, 1992.
Committee
chairperson Luhanga Mpina (Kisese-CCM) said the use of shilling parallel to
foreign currencies makes the country lose her international market
competitiveness; diverts business from local bureau de change and leads to
revenue loss to the government.
Ends.
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