New currency being printed for the first time in 7 years

The governor of the Bank of Tanzania, Professor Benno Ndulu, has announced that new versions of Tanzanian currency will begin circulating in January 2011. The new notes will be harder to counterfeit and will continue to be issued in 500, 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, and 10,000 shilling denominations. Despite the 10,000 shilling note being equal only to approximately U.S.$7, he claimed there is no need for a higher denomination note. "We will only consider introducing new denomination if the shilling depreciates sharply - the currency is not in such a bad situation." The 10,000 shilling note was introduced in 1995 and has lost more than 45 percent of its purchasing power just since 2001. This is the first printing of Tanzanian currency since 2003.

Sources: "National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) for November, 2010," National Bureau of Statistics, Dar es Salaam, released 15 December 2010, http://www.nbs.go.tz/index.php?option=com_phocadownload&view=category&id=67:inflation&download=499:cpi-release-november-2010&Itemid=106; "BoT issues new banknotes," Daily News, Dar es Salaam, 17 December 2010, http://dailynews.co.tz/home/?n=15561&cat=home