Tanzania Set to Launch Its Digital Currency

According to a statement issued by the Governor of the Bank of Tanzania, Florens Luoga, the African nation is reportedly making plans to issue its own central bank-issued digital currency (CBDC).

Tanzania Prepares To Launch Its CBDC

As many African nations continue to tap into the digital currency initiative, Tanzania may be finally ready to follow suit too.

According to a report by Bloomberg on Friday, Florens Luoga revealed that Tanzania may be taking a cue from Nigeria by fast-tracking its plans to roll out its own CBDC. Luoga insists that plans are ongoing for the launching of the digital shilling — Tanzania’s currency since 1966.

But Tanzania will not be in a haste to launch the CBDC. According to the governor, the country is presently planning to research more deeply into digital currencies, as part of its efforts towards launching properly. All things being equal, the success of the current plans would mean that Tanzania would become one of the pioneering African countries to roll out a CBDC.

Who’s Next To Issue Out A CBDC?

It looks like quite a good number of industry experts are predicting China to be the next major economy to launch its CBDC. The central bank of China had started its digital currency testing since April 2020 and is planning an even bigger trial during the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022.

But Luoga insists that Tanzania’s drive to launch the digital shilling was informed by Nigeria’s successful launch of its own CBDC, the eNaira. Nigeria successfully launched the eNaira last month, becoming only the second CBDC to be fully accessible to the public, right after Bahamas — which launched its own central bank digital currency, back in October 2020.

Meanwhile, at the moment, cryptocurrencies remain banned in Tanzania following a directive from the country’s apex bank in November 2019, declaring the digital assets ‘unrecognized by local law’.