The Tanzanian shilling
Currency · TZS · 1 country
The Bank of Tanzania opened on 14 June 1966 and the same day issued the Tanzanian shilling, which replaced the East African shilling at par. The East African Currency Board had run that older currency since 1919, against sterling held in London. Tanzanians still write prices in the style of the old sterling accounts: 100/= for a hundred shillings.
No sign of its own
The shilling has no sign of its own in the Unicode data behind this page, so the code TZS stands in. Amounts follow the old sterling habit of shillings and pence: shillings before a slash, cents after it, and = or - for none, so 100/= is a hundred shillings and -/50 is fifty cents. TSh is prefixed where confusion is possible.
- ISO code
- TZS
- ISO number
- 834
- Subunit
- cent, 1/100
An amount, written out
TZS 1,234.50
- TZS 1,234.50English
- TSh 1,234.50EnglishTanzania
Where the Tanzanian shilling is the official currency
Tanzania is its one user. The Bank of Tanzania has issued it since 1966, and the coins in circulation now are the 50, 100, 200 and 500.
About the Tanzanian shilling
What the East African Currency Board ran
The board was established in December 1919 to control the currency of Kenya and Uganda. Tanganyika joined the currency area in 1920, after the League of Nations gave Britain a mandate to administer it, and Zanzibar followed on 1 January 1936. The board minted the coins, printed the notes and fixed their values. Its central task was mechanical: it issued East African money in exchange for sterling lodged with it in London, and paid out sterling in London for East African money handed in.
Its start was costly. The board set out to replace the Indian silver rupee and the coins of Indian standard issued in German East Africa, and it could not persuade India or Germany to take the retired coins back at face value. It sold them for their silver instead. The conversion ended in 1925, and the reserve fund did not reach full cover of the currency in circulation until 1950. From 1955 the board could also hold securities of the territories' governments, up to a set ceiling.
On 10 June 1965 the finance ministers of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda each announced in their budget speeches a central bank and a currency of their own.
When Tanzania took charge of its money
The Bank of Tanzania, Benki Kuu ya Tanzania in Swahili, opened on 14 June 1966 with notes of 5, 10, 20 and 100 shillings. The shilling divides into 100 cents, senti in Swahili, although no coin under 50 shillings circulates today.
The early notes all carried Julius Nyerere, in three different portraits across four families, until 1986. The 1985 notes printed a map of Tanzania without Mafia, Pemba or Zanzibar, a version described as controversial, and the next year's issue restored the islands. From 1986 the portrait of Ali Hassan Mwinyi replaced Nyerere's.
How the coins took over the small notes
Coins have replaced the lower notes one value at a time. The 5-shilling note became a coin in 1972, the 10 in 1987, the 20 in 1990, the 100 in 1994 and the 50 in 1996. Larger notes arrived at the top of the range as they went: 500 in 1989, 1,000 in 1990, 5,000 and 10,000 in 1995 and 2,000 in 2003. A new series with added security features followed around 2010. The notes in use run from 500 to 10,000 shillings.
Christopher Ironside designed the first coins of 1966. The 5-shilling coin of 1987 was ten-sided. A 500-shilling coin appeared on 8 September 2014, and the coins in circulation now are the 50, 100, 200 and 500. The bank's list of commemorative issues runs from 1981 to 2014, from the twentieth anniversary of Tanganyika's independence to the fiftieth of the Zanzibar Revolution.
Common questions
Questions about the Tanzanian shilling
What does /= mean after a price in Tanzania?
It is how Tanzanians write whole shillings. The notation puts shillings before a slash and cents after it, and an equals sign or a hyphen stands for nothing. So 2,000/= means two thousand shillings and no cents, and -/50 means fifty cents. The pattern comes from pre-decimal sterling, where amounts under a pound were written in shillings and pence. The prefix TSh is added when the currency needs naming, and alone when the amount is written in words, as in TSh10million.
When did Tanzania replace the East African shilling?
On 14 June 1966, when the Bank of Tanzania opened and issued its own notes. The Tanzanian shilling took over at par. Kenya and Uganda had announced the same plan: on 10 June 1965 the finance ministers of all three governments said in their budget speeches that each would found a central bank and issue its own currency.
Why did a Tanzanian banknote map leave out Zanzibar?
Notes issued in 1985 carried a map of Tanzania that omitted the islands of Mafia, Pemba and Zanzibar. The design was controversial, and the notes of the following year showed the islands again. Julius Nyerere's portrait was still on the notes then; from 1986 Ali Hassan Mwinyi's replaced it.
Why are there no small shilling notes in Tanzania any more?
The Bank of Tanzania has turned each low note into a coin in turn: the 5 shillings in 1972, the 10 in 1987, the 20 in 1990, the 100 in 1994 and the 50 in 1996. The 500-shilling coin followed on 8 September 2014, and the 500 is now the lowest note as well as the highest coin. At the other end the range grew, with 5,000 and 10,000-shilling notes in 1995 and a 2,000 in 2003. The coins still circulating are the 50, 100, 200 and 500.