The Tanzanian government has announced a 30 percent reduction of mobile money transactions levies, in response to public outcry over the new charges, The Daily News reported. Minister for Finance and Planning Mwigulu Nchemba has already signed amendments of regulations for the mobile money transaction levies that were due for announcement. The ministry said the government has reached an agreement with telecommunication companies to lower their charges.
The operators have also reduced their withdrawal charges from other telecom operators by 10 percent, it said. The cut in mobile money levies follows directives by President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who instructed relevant ministries on 19 July to revisit the charges and work on the matter accordingly.
In the first four weeks since the government introduced the new levies, it had managed to fetch TZS 48.4 billion, with TZS 37 billion disbursed for the construction of 150 health centres. Nchemba said that an additional TZS 7 billion was in the pipeline for transfer to the Presidents' Office Regional Administration and Local Government (PORALG) Ministry to finance the construction of 560 classrooms.
