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What you can do with your old coins
What you need to know:
- The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) says that coins that are no longer in circulation and have not been abolished can still be deposited in commercial banks for the same value.
Dar es Salaam. If you have ever wondered where to send your old coins to, then this will help you.
Such coins, as long as they are still the legal tender, will be accepted by a commercial bank as long as you have an account.
The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) says that coins that are no longer in circulation and have not been abolished can still be deposited in commercial banks for the same value.
“Fortunately, in Tanzania, we don't have any abolished coin denominations. All are still in use. Therefore, if you deposit Sh10 or Sh20 you will be accorded with the same value,” the BoT Governor, Mr Emmanuel Tutuba, said.
This comes after several people phoned The Citizen newsroom during the past few weeks, asking for information on where they could go with the coins in their possession.
He said the fact that people with bank accounts, especially those using cheques or electronic transactions usually pay or are paid with any possible amount including fractional cents, means that the coins could still be deposited.
“If one is paid Sh127, 583.61 their bank account or mobile money wallet will be credited with the same amount without any challenge,” he said.
Contacted, the managing director for CRDB Bank Plc, Mr Abdulmajid Nsekela said normally at the bank if the coins are still legal tenders, then bank branches were duty-bound to receive them from customers and exchange them with circulating denominations (notes or coins).
“Once they reach acceptable amounts, banks are supposed to repatriate them to BOT in the normal way,” he said.
He said alternatively, customers can also send them directly to the BoT which has a window for correcting non-circulating coins and currencies, including mutilated notes.
Currently, the coins in circulation are those with denominations of Sh50, 100, 200 and 500 while the current series of banknotes currently in circulation have Sh500, 1000, 2000, 5000 and 10,000 denominations.
The BoT had in the past issued the Tanzanian Shilling coins in denominations of 5 cents, 20 cents, 50 cents and 1 shilling and continued in circulation for almost 20 years.
In 1972, a 5 shilling coin was introduced and the shilling value continued to decline.
The 5 cents coin became almost useless, and in 1977 just a 10 cents coin was introduced as an eventual replacement of the 5 cents coin.
In 1985 the coins were redesigned into different materials and dimensions the 5, 10 and 20 cents became useless: they were retired from circulation.
The first release of coins in 1987 were in denominations of 50 cents, 1 shilling, 5 shillings and 10 shillings.
