The Bank of Tanzania has intervened in
the money exchange market for almost all of last week to save the
shilling from tumbling further due to rising corporate demand.
According to BoT data, the shilling was trading
as low as 1,602 a greenback since last Tuesday forcing the central bank
intervention to rescue the local currency from further bashing.
Also the amount traded increased to
between four and seven million US dollars during the last week which is
the highest amount since the first week of September.
The commercial
bank quoted the shilling exchanging hands at around 1,609/- a dollar,
revealing the presence of the central bank in the market in this week as
well.
Standard Chartered Bank said yesterday
that throughout the week BoT was ‘very active in the market’ to cool
corporate demand hence enabling the shilling to stabilize at the current
level.
“The shilling is expected to uphold current levels as we
anticipate the BoT to maintain presence in the market,” the bank said in
its daily market report.
The report further said the
shilling/dollar pair ended the week almost where it began as the market
saw no significant movement throughout the week due to low volatility.
However, the amount traded last week was still the lowest compared to 16
million US dollars traded in a single day in January, which subdued to
another one day amount of 12.85 million US dollars on June.
The average rate, though, reached
1,581.74 last Friday is the lowest since July when it clocked 1,582.94.
Money market analysts have it that the shilling is poised to depreciate
further, increasing the prices of goods and services and triggering
inflation rate especially now that the economy is heading towards the
year-end festivals.
Source: The Daily News, http://www.dailynews.co.tz, reported by Abduel Elinaza in Dar es Salaam
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