Times in Tanzania: Money: Tanzanian Currency and Cost of Living

The currency in Tanzania is the Tanzanian shilling (TZS), locally called "shilingi". The banknotes (pictured above) are found along with coins in denominations of 50, 100, and 200. The current exchange rate is approximately 1600 TZS: 1 USD. The current notes have been in circulation since 2003.

Tanzania's rich wildlife is prominently exhibited on their bank notes. There is the common issue of the largest denomination being quite small resulting in stacks of banknotes for large purchases. While this helps to create the illusion of being rich, there is a lot of time spent on waiting for people to count literally hundreds of notes.

To give you an idea of the cost of living I'll give some prices of common goods. One thing I love when moving to a new country is adjusting to the currency. It's not a very wise idea when being paid in local currency to constantly convert to USD. It's better to wait until enough purchases have been made to get a "respect" for the shilling. For example, it might seem cheap to get a nice meal out for 8-11,000 TZS ( $5.00-$6.86) until you realize that local people eat out for half or a sixth of the cost. I always describe the "respect of currency" in the form of "how much do you spend without thinking of it as a big expense?" For example, in America I will likely spend $5 without thinking about it but when it gets to $10-20 I have to think if it's worth it. At the moment, for me it's 5,000 TZS ($3.12).

Another piece of information that helps give perspective are the salaries of local jobs. It's good to know how much local people get by on to keep you humble.

Items:

Transport:
Local bus trip to town: 300 TZS ($0.19)
Chartered motorcycle to town: 1,500 TZS ($0.94)
Chartered taxi to town: 4,000 TZS ($2.50)
Public bus to Arusha (1 1/2 hours): 3,000 TZS ($1.87)
Bus to Dar es Salaam (10-12 hours): 30,000 TZS ($18.71)

Food:
Piece of cut pineapple/whole pineapple: 300/2,000 TZS ($0.19/$1.25)
Fruit plate at restaurant: 1,000 TZS ($0.62)
2 kg (about 5 lbs) of rice: 7,000 TZS ($4.30)
1.5L (about 50oz. or 2/5 gallon) of water: 1,000 TZS ($0.62)
Imported Cadbury chocolate bar: 1,500 TZS ($0.94)
Orange: 200 TZS ($0.13)
Hand of small sweet bananas: 2,000 TZS ($1.25)
500ml soda: 1,000 TZS ($0.62)
Egg: 200 TZS ($0.13)
24 tea bags (Tanzanian produced): 3,000 TZS ($1.87)

Results from my daily shopping trip. Total cost: 5,700 TZS ($3.56)

Dining out:
Classic local meal (rice, beans, greens, small pieces of meat): 1,500 TZS ($0.94)
Local meal (chips, rice, chicken, etc): 5,000 TZS ($3.12)
Pizza at western restaurant: 8-11,000 TZS ( $5.00-$6.86)
Cup of coffee at coffee shop: 2,000 TZS ($1.25)

Other:
Local sandals: 10,000 TZS ($6.20)
Short sleeve dress shirt from street vendor: 7,000 TZS ($4.37)
5GB internet service for one month: 30,000 TZS ($18.71)
Monthly water/electricity: 20,000 TZS ($12.50)
Rent: 140,000 TZS ($87.31)
Petrol: 2,187 TZS/liter ($1.36...about $4.93/gallon)
Diesel: 2,175 TZS/liter ($1.35...about $4.93/gallon)

Local salaries:

Security guard/night watch: 100,000 TZS/month ($62.36)
Primary school teacher: 200,000 TZS/month ($124.72)
Secondary school teacher: 300,000 TZS/month ($187.09)

Although the GDP per capita is about 700,000 TZS ($438.00), Moshi is outside the financial centers of Tanzania. However, Moshi does benefit from tourism, though there are obviously a limited amount of jobs. From what I understand, someone with a bachelors degree would be happy to earn around 2,000,000 TZS ($1,250) in Dar es Salaam.