Payment systems in Tanzania - Bank for International Settlements

- 216 - Tanzania
operations. Further, the central bank is also finalising efforts to facilitate money markets with the
introduction of an immobilised and dematerialised book entry Treasury bill and repurchase
agreements system which may also be extended to handle other highly liquid securities.
Telecommunications are about to be commercialised, major projects for installing
modern digital exchanges with micro wave links between relay stations are being implemented and
four data communications service providers have been licensed. These developments have enabled
some banks to set up inter-branch data communication networks so Automatic Teller Machines,
Electronic Funds Transfer at Point Of Sale, etc. may soon become a reality as telecomm tariffs come
down and the infrastructure improves.
Unfortunately, the changes have also had negative effects such as depriving access to banking
services by closure of branches.
The transport sector is still lagging behind despite rehabilitation of some major roads and the
introduction of a private air service. These difficulties hamper postal and courier service development,
forcing banks to establish their own courier service networks.
The national outlook for the future is encouraging particularly with a lower rate of inflation
(currently 17% from over 26% over the past 5 years). This reflects positively on the monetary and
fiscal policies currently followed.