Tanzania’s central bank has purchased around 28 metric tons of gold over the past 18 months as part of efforts to strengthen the country’s international reserves and support the shilling, Governor Emmanuel Tutuba said.
Tutuba said the gold bought under the programme was worth about $3.68 billion at current prices, according to a finance ministry statement released on Wednesday. The comments were made a day earlier during an International Monetary Fund and World Bank meeting in Gambia.
The Bank of Tanzania has been buying gold for its reserves since around 2023, as authorities move to increase the share of locally produced minerals held by the state.
In September 2024, Tanzania’s mining regulator ordered gold mining firms and traders exporting the commodity to allocate at least 20 percent of their output for sale to the central bank.
Tanzania is among Africa’s top 10 gold producers, and the central bank’s gold-buying programme has become part of a wider push to channel more mineral revenue through the formal financial system.
Tutuba said the programme had led to the opening of more than 4,000 new accounts at financial institutions by mineral traders and small-scale miners.
At last week’s interest rate announcement, Tutuba said Tanzania’s foreign reserves stood at around $6 billion, enough to cover 4.3 months of imports.