Absa Bank Tanzania Exchange Rate API: TZS Buy and Sell Rates as JSON

Absa Bank Tanzania is the Tanzanian arm of South Africa’s Absa Group. It publishes a daily PDF of buy and sell rates in Tanzanian shillings for 14 currencies, rounded to whole shillings. This guide shows how to read that board as JSON: what the rates mean, how they compare with the Bank of Tanzania official rate and with other banks in Tanzania, and the calls that return them.

What the Absa Tanzania board shows

• 14 currencies against the Tanzanian shilling: AUD, CAD, CHF, CNY, DKK, EUR, GBP, JPY, KES, NOK, SEK, UGX, USD and ZAR. Every value is TZS per 1 unit of the foreign currency.
• The daily indicative buy / sell pair. The Tanzanian shilling floats and each bank sets its own buying and selling rates, which it describes as indicative and subject to change at the counter. Rates are quoted in shillings per 1 unit of the foreign currency, including the Kenyan and Ugandan shillings. The Bank of Tanzania official rate is shown next to each row.
• USD on 15 November 2026: Absa Tanzania bought at 2605 and sold at 2685 TZS, a spread of 3.02%. The Bank of Tanzania official rate was 2657.65, so the bank's mid sat -0.48% from it.
• The bank's own timestamp. The page prints a last-updated stamp (2026-11-13 on the board above), returned as bank_updated_at next to our captured_at.
• Every day's board is kept permanently, from 13 November 2026. Read one past day with ?date=, or a range for one currency with the /history endpoint (paid plans).

Spreads across the board

On the 15 November 2026 board the tightest spreads were USD (3.02%), UGX (9.38%), CNY (9.93%) and the widest KES (31.11%), JPY (18.18%), ZAR (15.38%). Spread is (sell − buy) ÷ mid: what a round trip through the bank costs, before any fees. The API returns it on every row as spread_pct, so you can rank currencies or alert when a bank widens its board.

USD at Absa Tanzania and other banks in Tanzania

USD on the 10 boards AllRatesToday reads in Tanzania, all captured on 15 November 2026 (the Bank of Tanzania official rate was 2657.65):

Absa Tanzania had the 2nd narrowest USD spread of the 10. One call to /api/v1/bank-rates/tz returns every board in the table at once.

Get the board (REST)

You need an API key; the free key works. The full board:

curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/tz/absatz" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

What comes back (the 15 November 2026 board, first three rows):

{
  "bank": "absatz",
  "name": "Absa Bank Tanzania",
  "country": "tz",
  "quote_ccy": "TZS",
  "bank_updated_at": "2026-11-13",
  "basis": "Daily indicative buy / sell",
  "captured_at": "2026-11-15T11:46:40.152Z",
  "rates": [
    {"ccy":"AUD","buy":1708,"sell":1889,"mid":1798.5,"spread_pct":10.064,"official":1814.6434,"vs_official_pct":-0.89},
    {"ccy":"CAD","buy":1756,"sell":1942,"mid":1849,"spread_pct":10.059,"official":1867.77,"vs_official_pct":-1.005},
    {"ccy":"CHF","buy":3005,"sell":3323,"mid":3164,"spread_pct":10.051,"official":3190.4562,"vs_official_pct":-0.829},
    … 11 more currencies
  ],
  "disclaimer": "…",
  "attribution": { … }
}

One currency, with the row fields at the top level:

curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/tz/absatz?ccy=USD" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

{
  "bank": "absatz",
  "name": "Absa Bank Tanzania",
  "country": "tz",
  "quote_ccy": "TZS",
  "bank_updated_at": "2026-11-13",
  "basis": "Daily indicative buy / sell",
  "captured_at": "2026-11-15T11:46:40.152Z",
  "ccy": "USD",
  "buy": 2605,
  "sell": 2685,
  "mid": 2645,
  "spread_pct": 3.025,
  "official": 2657.65,
  "vs_official_pct": -0.476,
  "disclaimer": "Retail buy/sell rates as displayed on each bank’s own website at capture time, quoted as home currency per 1 unit of foreign currency. Indicative only: banks change these through the day, apply them at the counter or in-app, and they are not official or reference rates. For the rate a regulation names, use the central-bank endpoints.",
  "attribution": {
    "source": "Board rates published by Absa Bank Tanzania on its own website, collected by AllRatesToday",
    "bank_url": "https://www.absa.co.tz/content/dam/tanzania/absa/pdf/fx-rates/daily-indicative-forex-rates.pdf",
    "url": "https://allratestoday.com/bank-exchange-rate-api/tz/absatz/",
    "terms": "Public pages that show the rates need a visible link to allratestoday.com"
  }
}

The board as it stood on a past day:

curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/tz/absatz?date=2026-11-13" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

One currency over a date range, one row per day (paid plans; add &format=csv, xml or xlsx for a file):

curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/tz/absatz/history?ccy=USD&from=2026-11-13&to=2026-11-15" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

JavaScript

npm install @allratestoday/sdk

import { AllRatesToday } from '@allratestoday/sdk';

const client = new AllRatesToday({ apiKey: 'art_live_your_key' });

// Absa Bank Tanzania's USD row
const r = await client.bankRates('tz', { bank: 'absatz', ccy: 'USD' });
console.log(`Absa Tanzania buys USD at ${r.buy}, sells at ${r.sell} TZS`);

// The board as it stood on a past day
const past = await client.bankRates('tz', { bank: 'absatz', date: '2026-11-13' });
console.log(past.snapshot_date, past.rates.length);

Python

import requests

r = requests.get(
    "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/tz/absatz",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer art_live_your_key"},
    timeout=10,
)
r.raise_for_status()
for row in r.json()["rates"]:
    print(row["ccy"], row["buy"], row["sell"], row["spread_pct"])

Board rate or official rate?

The Bank of Tanzania rate is the one tax, accounting and customs rules in Tanzania name; nobody transacts at it. Absa Tanzania's board is the price a customer actually gets. The API puts both on every row: official is the central bank's rate for the same currency and vs_official_pct is how far the bank's mid sits from it. Use the board to show customers a real price, compare banks for a remittance, or keep a dated record of what the bank quoted; use the Bank of Tanzania endpoint when a rule asks for the official rate.

FAQ

Where do the Absa Bank Tanzania rates come from?

From the bank's own public rates page (https://www.absa.co.tz/content/dam/tanzania/absa/pdf/fx-rates/daily-indicative-forex-rates.pdf), read hourly. AllRatesToday does not change the numbers: each row is the buy and sell price Absa Tanzania shows, with the mid, the spread and the Bank of Tanzania rate added.

Are these the official TZS exchange rates?

No. They are Absa Tanzania's retail prices for customers. The official rate in Tanzania is the Bank of Tanzania rate, which the API returns as official on each row where the central bank has one, and in full from the central-bank endpoint.

How often is the Absa Tanzania board updated?

AllRatesToday reads the page every hour. The bank's own last-updated stamp is returned as bank_updated_at, so you can tell a fresh read of an unchanged board from a new board.

Can I get Absa Tanzania rates for a past date?

Yes, from 13 November 2026 onward; every day's board is kept permanently. Add ?date=YYYY-MM-DD for one day: the response is the board captured that day, or the nearest earlier day within five days, with date_requested and snapshot_date added. For a range, /history?ccy=USD&from=…&to=… returns one row per day as JSON, CSV, XML or XLSX on paid plans.

Do I need an API key?

Yes. Commercial bank boards need an API key; any plan works, the free key included, and each call counts against the plan. Public pages or widgets that show the rates need a visible link to allratestoday.com.