THE shilling has depreciated by almost
24 per cent in eight months since January to close the yester-market at
2,146/- a US dollar.
The drop in the first eight months of 24
per cent is four times higher than the amount of depreciation in the
same period last year of slightly over 6.0 per cent to 1,668/-.
According to Bank of Tanzania data as of
yesterday, though in aggregate term the shilling depreciated, on daily
basis it went up by 0.28 per cent.
The BoT monthly economic report of June
shows that it intervened to cool the interbank foreign exchange market
after selling 87.5 million US dollars in April and 75million US dollars
in May.
For sterling pound, since January to
date, data from BoT shows that the shilling lost ground by almost 22 per
cent to 3,275/- while sunk by almost 17 per cent to 2,400/-.
The shilling also depreciated against
the Kenyan shilling after dive by 8.21 per cent to 20.55/- as of Monday.
However, NMB said on its eMarket report of Monday that the shilling
remained fairly stable against US dollar amidst thin trading.
The bank said demand for the shilling
for month end local obligations buoyed the shilling, while importer
demand from the oil and manufacturing sectors put slight pressure on the
local currency.
“The shilling could weaken in the near term upon resumption of importer demand for the month of September,” NMB said.
Though the export of goods and services
increased by 9.8 per cent to 9,454.5 million US dollar in the year
ending May, failed to counter imports that slightly went down to
13,305.2 million US dollar from 14,050.5 million dollars of previous
month, according to BoT.
BoT said the import decrease was
attributed to “intermediate goods, particularly oil and fertilizers.”
The shilling depreciation is blamed for pushing north prices of various
imported commodities such as petroleum products and clothes.
The inflation increased from 6.4 per
cent in June, 2014 to 6.5 percent in July, 2014, a situation attributed
to the rise of price in different commodities as well as various
services.
Source: Daily News, reported from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
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