DAR ES SALAAM, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) said on Saturday it was working on modalities to rebuild a reserve for precious minerals, including gold, tanzanite and diamonds, as it is done in other countries worldwide.
The move follows a recent proposal by Tanzanian President John Magufuli when receiving two probe reports by special parliamentary committees which were formed to investigate diamonds and tanzanite mining which were found replete with fraud.
Benno Ndulu, the BoT governor, said the central bank was aggressively working on to come up with arrangements to be able to procure the precious minerals.
"There are number of things to be considered and properly put in place before starting to purchase the minerals," said Ndulu.
He added: "We have started working on the matter... we need money and several other things. These are things you cannot do right away because it is a sensitive subject."
Ndulu said establishing such procurement procedure required consultation with various experts and government officials at different levels.
"We need to consult and document everything before the central bank turns from only reserving cash to a buyer of gold, tanzanite and diamond. The buying and selling of the minerals need special expertise," said Ndulu.
Magufuli and Minister for Finance and Planning, Philip Mpango, have been aggressively pushing for the central bank to rebuild reserves for precious minerals.
"BoT should come up with a special arrangement to start establishing mineral reserves, as it is done in other parts of the world instead of dealing with cash reserves only," said Mpango on Sept. 9 during his prompt visit to the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) in Dar es Salaam where he received reports on smuggled diamond that was seized at the airport.
BoT halted its previous gold purchases after the 2009 collapse of a Dar es Salaam-based gold refinery, Mwananchi Gold Company Limited (MGCL), which was set up as a joint venture between the central bank and some private investors.
In November last year, Mpango told the National Assembly that the government, through BoT, was exploring the possibility of using tanzanite for currency reserves, not bullion, because experience has shown that gold was no longer suitable for this purpose.
Tanzanite is a gemstone unique to Tanzania, as it is only found in the Mererani area of the country's Manyara region.
