People’s Bank of Zanzibar Exchange Rate API: TZS Buy and Sell Rates as JSON

People’s Bank of Zanzibar is a state-owned bank of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar. Its forex page lists buying and selling rates in Tanzanian shillings for about ten currencies. 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 PBZ board shows

• 9 currencies against the Tanzanian shilling: AED, EUR, GBP, KES, OMR, SAR, UGX, USD and ZAR. Every value is TZS per 1 unit of the foreign currency.
• The forex counter buying / selling 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: PBZ bought at 2570 and sold at 2650 TZS, a spread of 3.06%. The Bank of Tanzania official rate was 2657.65, so the bank's mid sat -1.79% from it.
• No timestamp on the bank's page. PBZ does not print a last-updated time, so bank_updated_at is null and captured_at (when AllRatesToday read the page) is the only time available.
• Every day's board is kept permanently, from 15 November 2026, the day collection started. 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 (3.06%), GBP (8.85%), EUR (9.18%) and the widest UGX (48.28%), KES (35.90%), ZAR (35.71%). 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 PBZ 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):

PBZ had the 10th 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/pbztz" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

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

{
  "bank": "pbztz",
  "name": "People's Bank of Zanzibar",
  "country": "tz",
  "quote_ccy": "TZS",
  "bank_updated_at": null,
  "basis": "Forex counter buying / selling",
  "captured_at": "2026-11-15T03:58:37.285Z",
  "rates": [
    {"ccy":"AED","buy":650,"sell":800,"mid":725,"spread_pct":20.69,"official":723.5244,"vs_official_pct":0.204},
    {"ccy":"EUR","buy":2910,"sell":3190,"mid":3050,"spread_pct":9.18,"official":2946.5366,"vs_official_pct":3.511},
    {"ccy":"GBP","buy":3350,"sell":3660,"mid":3505,"spread_pct":8.845,"official":3525.6385,"vs_official_pct":-0.585},
    … 6 more currencies
  ],
  "disclaimer": "…",
  "attribution": { … }
}

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

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

{
  "bank": "pbztz",
  "name": "People's Bank of Zanzibar",
  "country": "tz",
  "quote_ccy": "TZS",
  "bank_updated_at": null,
  "basis": "Forex counter buying / selling",
  "captured_at": "2026-11-15T03:58:37.285Z",
  "ccy": "USD",
  "buy": 2570,
  "sell": 2650,
  "mid": 2610,
  "spread_pct": 3.065,
  "official": 2657.65,
  "vs_official_pct": -1.793,
  "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 People’s Bank of Zanzibar on its own website, collected by AllRatesToday",
    "bank_url": "https://www.pbzbank.co.tz/forex",
    "url": "https://allratestoday.com/bank-exchange-rate-api/tz/pbztz/",
    "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/pbztz?date=2026-11-15" \
  -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/pbztz/history?ccy=USD&from=2026-11-15&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' });

// People’s Bank of Zanzibar's USD row
const r = await client.bankRates('tz', { bank: 'pbztz', ccy: 'USD' });
console.log(`PBZ 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: 'pbztz', date: '2026-11-15' });
console.log(past.snapshot_date, past.rates.length);

Python

import requests

r = requests.get(
    "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/tz/pbztz",
    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. PBZ'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 People’s Bank of Zanzibar rates come from?

From the bank's own public rates page (https://www.pbzbank.co.tz/forex), read hourly. AllRatesToday does not change the numbers: each row is the buy and sell price PBZ shows, with the mid, the spread and the Bank of Tanzania rate added.

Are these the official TZS exchange rates?

No. They are PBZ'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 PBZ board updated?

AllRatesToday reads the page every hour. The bank prints no timestamp, so captured_at tells you when the rates were read.

Can I get PBZ rates for a past date?

Yes, from 15 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.