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General information about Tanzanian currency

Tanzanian shilling is the official currency of the United Republic of Tanzania but the US dollar is ubiquitously used too. Other currencies such as euro, Pound Sterling, Swiss franc are not used in the payment but they always can be exchanged for shillings at a reduced rate at any exchange office.

Most of the hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops have prices in US dollars but you can pay by local shillings. In supermarkets with cash register you can pay by shillings or by credit card, the commission will be ~5%.

Note: The bank notes of older than 2003 issue year are depreciated in Tanzania banks​.

Сurrency exchange

Arriving to Tanzania, you should be ready that the currency rate depends on value of the banknote, i.e. $100 and $50 banknotes will be changed at better rate than $5 and $10 banknotes. Exchange can be done in hotels, banks and exchange offices. It should be noted that the best exchanging rate is offered by exchange offices.

The current rate US dollar / Tanzanian shilling can be found on the following link: USD / TZS


Tanzania has got ATMs of all international payment systems but we strongly recommend to have a minimal amount of cash, just in case if ATM will not have money or your credit card will be blocked by the issuing bank. You should be ready that they have rather high commission for withdrawal (approximately 6$ + commission of your bank) and the maximum permitted amount is 400 000 Tanzanian shillings.

Many people also ask about withdrawing money in US dollars, unfortunately, in the region of Kilimanjaro and Arusha it is impossible to do because all ATMs issue only Tanzanian shillings.

We recommend to withdraw money from following banks:

  • Barclays Bank
  • NBC Bank
  • CRDB Bank