Bank of Tanzania (BoT)

The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) will next month launch a scholarship fund to sponsor Tanzanian students with outstanding performance in science and mathematics for university education.

In an e-mail interview yesterday, the BoT Director of Economic Research and Policy Dr Joseph Masawe, said the fund called Mwalimu Julius Nyerere memorial scholarships is spearheaded by the bank in honour of the country’s first President Mwalimu Nyerere.

President Jakaya Kikwete is expected to launch the fund at a two-day conference for financial institutions to be held in Arusha on November 26, this year.

“Apart from the conference, we will use the opportunity to launch the fund, which we hope would help to increase the number of students in universities,” he said.

He would not divulge the number of students who will benefit from the bank sponsorship, but noted that the programme would commence next year.

HIghlighting about the conference, Dr Masawe, said they have invited about 300 participants from Tanzania and outside the country.

The biennial event organised by the bank will discuss matters of interest to the financial sector. They include financial innovations and their impact on improving financial inclusion in Tanzania, he said. The forum brings together heads of financial institutions, their officials and other stakeholders to exchange views and experiences on matters pertaining to the financial system and the country’s economy, he said.

The theme of the 16th conference is “Financial Innovations and Financial Inclusion in Tanzania”.

It aims at highlighting the role of financial innovations in the country in supporting financial inclusion, as well as the regulatory and monetary policy challenges arising thereof.

However one of the concerns that have been raised by experts is the poor financial services including use of hard cash instead of cards or cheques in business transactions.

Financial experts say financial services need to be improved in rural parts of the country so as to abandon the culture of cash economy. People still use large amounts of cash during transactions and this has been holding back the implementation of some monetary policy, experts say.

Furthermore, it is estimated that 75 per cent of the money in circulation does so through the informal system.

The Conference of Financial Institutions was created in 1980 under the auspices of the Bank of Tanzania.