2000 Shilingi Souimanga

Tanzania's 1986 gold issues were produced during a period of acute economic strain, when the country was negotiating structural adjustment conditions with the IMF following years of socialist economic policy under Julius Nyerere's Ujamaa program. Hard currency was scarce domestically, and gold coins of this type were minted primarily for export sale and collector markets rather than any domestic monetary function. Nyerere had stepped down from the presidency just the previous year.

Fr#4 in Friedberg places this among a small series of Tanzanian gold issues with limited original distribution through European numismatic houses.