Settlement of deals in local currencies between India, Tanzania begins: Jaishankar

Dar es Salaam. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said that India and Tanzania have started settling trade deals in local currencies which will boost commercial activities between the two countries. Addressing industry representatives here, Jaishankar, who is on a visit to Tanzania, said that bilateral trade between India and this African country has grown very rapidly and it had reached $ 6.4 billion in the financial year 2022-23.

Jaishankar said, keep in mind that this is not only very good bilateral trade but this trade is also becoming balanced. Many new products are being added for mutual trade. India continues to be the largest destination for exports from Tanzania. He said that in the midst of this growing trade, the issue of the possibility of settling trade deals in their local currencies has also been raised from time to time. In this context, he told the leading industrialists of Tanzania, I want to inform you of the fact that the Central Bank of India has approved such a possibility. After this, the three Indian banks present here have the ability to conduct business transactions in each other’s currencies. He said that some transactions have also been done in Indian Rupee and Tanzanian Shilling and this has created another mechanism to encourage mutual trade between the two countries. Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank present in Tanzania have started transactions in local currencies after getting approval from the Reserve Bank of India, which is trying to encourage foreign trade in rupees.

Referring to the strengthening of economic relations between India and African countries, the External Affairs Minister said that India’s trade with Africa has reached $98 billion. Apart from this, India has also invested $75 billion in Africa. “We expect both investment in Africa and our trade with it to grow,” he said. I also agree that once a free trade regime is implemented across Africa, it will be easier for India to both invest and do business here.

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