According to Bank of Tanzania Governor Florens Luoga, the central bank has “already begun preparations” for a digital shilling (CBDC).
Tanzania’s central bank, the Bank of Tanzania, is apparently intending to launch a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, after neighbouring nations revealed similar plans.
According to a Bloomberg story published on Friday, Bank of Tanzania Governor Florens Luoga stated on Thursday that Tanzania intends to follow Nigeria’s lead in implementing its own CBDC. According to reports, Luoga stated that Tanzania’s central bank has “already initiated preparations” for a digital shilling, which has been the country’s currency since 1966.
Tanzania is also intending to boost research into digital currencies and enhance the competence of central bank personnel as it prepares to create a CBDC, according to the governor. Tanzania will join a small group of nations studying the implementation of a CBDC if it is effective.
Many industry analysts believe that China will be the first major international economy to implement a CBDC. Since April 2020, the country’s central bank has undertaken experiments in key cities, with a bigger test planned for the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022.
According to Luoga, the establishment of Nigeria’s own CBDC, the eNaira, last month prompted Tanzania’s central bank to take action. After the Bahamas became the first country in the world to debut a central bank digital currency in October 2020, the CBDC is only the second to be completely available to the public.
Following a November 2019 decree from the country’s central bank, which said that digital assets were not recognized by local law, cryptocurrencies are mainly outlawed in Tanzania. Following President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s statement in June that the government should be ready for crypto, the Bank of Tanzania is apparently attempting to lift the prohibition.