Tanzania: Shilling Maintains Strength Five Weeks in a Row

THE shilling has maintained strength after appreciating for the fifth week in a row on the Interbank Foreign Exchange Market (IFEM).

The shilling thus closed the last month at a stable note, while demand for dollars is still being

observed from manufacturers and oil marketing companies (OMCs) in particular.

The shilling gained a marginal 3 percentage in points (pips) for the week ending last Friday, while the amount traded on the IFEM slowed down by 1.6 per cent.

"The shilling maintained strength after recording a weekly appreciation for the fifth week in a row on the IFEM," Orbit Securities said on its Weekly Market Synopsis on Tuesday.

NMB Bank, one of the leading lenders, said the local currency remains stable as the month comes to an end, with the demand for dollars still being observed from manufacturers and OMC's in particular.

"Agricultural inflows from cotton and coffee specifically continue to support the market with the US dollar supply," NMB said on its e-Market.

The bank predicted that trading activities would pick up as this month started to unfold.

"Trading activities are expected to pick beginning of the month," NMB report showed.

The total value of transactions recorded on the IFEM totaled to 8.17million US dollars in comparison to 8.3million during the previous week.

During the week, Tanzania Securities said, the weighted average rate (WAR) for the interbank market increased and closed at 3.25 per cent from 3.00 per cent in the previous week.

Total volume traded decreased by 9.82 per cent to 138.60bn/- compared to 153.70bn/- in the previous week.

The highest rate in the interbank market was 4.75 per cent while the lowest was 3.00 per cent compared to the previous week high and low rate of 5.00 per cent and 3.00 per cent respectively.