Tanzania: Magufuli Shut Down Bureau de Change

EAST AFRICA - TANZANIA PRESIDENT JOHN MAGUFULI GAVE REASONS FOR SHUT DOWN 

Dr. Magufuli - Tanzania President

Dar es Salaam – President John Magufuli has today 10^th day of December, 2018 loud on the closure of bureau de change in the country, explaining that the main reason was tax evasion by the traders in currency exchange.

The President said during the working session between him and the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) and regional commissioners, that during intervention we found that one licensed bureau might have at least seven unregistered bureau outlets. 

Dr. Magufuli added that among 37 bureau de change, only one was registered. He further stated “when they tried to exchange money using the bureau there was no indication at TRA that the amount was transacted, this shows has shown there was no connection between TRA and bureau de change.”

“You can exchange any amount of money you want in our bureau without even being asked why the money is entering the economy,” he said. With the fact that the culture affected the economy, he said the situation was different in other countries in which people were scanned, ask why they were in the country and were given a limit to the amount of money they could exchange.

For his part, the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) Governor, Prof. Florens Luoga, said that the central bank was working on ensuring all bureaus were licensed. He explained that there was a need for more bureaus in areas with many foreigners to work on a system in which all foreign payments would be conducted in banks to avoid fraud.

“We are working with the ministry of Finance to ensure all import payments in the country must be through banks,” he said.

Earlier in November this year, the BoT conducted impromptu inspections that started with Arusha-based bureau de change that led to the subsequent suspension of their operations for breach of rules and regulations.

The directives were followed by the suspension of five commercial banks from participating in Interbank Foreign Exchange Market (IFEM) for one month, effective from November 23, due to violation of law.