Time zone · Africa
CAT
Central Africa Time
Central Africa Time (CAT) covers a broad band of central, southern and eastern Africa, offering a steady clock across busy capitals like Harare, Khartoum, and Kigali without the seasonal shifts that complicate schedules elsewhere; that fixed, two-hours-ahead-of-UTC rhythm means meetings, markets, and flights stay predictable year-round.
Thursday, October 15, 2026
Current offset
UTC+02:00
Standard · CAT
Daylight saving
Not observed
Year-round standard time
IANA zones
11
None observe daylight saving
DST offset
—
No summer variant
About CAT
A fixed, year-round offset.
Central Africa Time (CAT) covers a broad band of central, southern and eastern Africa, offering a steady clock across busy capitals like Harare, Khartoum, and Kigali without the seasonal shifts that complicate schedules elsewhere; that fixed, two-hours-ahead-of-UTC rhythm means meetings, markets, and flights stay predictable year-round.
IANA zones · the technical identifiers
The 11 zones that resolve to CAT.
For software, always store the IANA identifier — never the abbreviation alone. The database keeps these zones distinct because their rules can, and historically did, diverge.
Cities across CAT
Local time, city by city.
29 cities
Where CAT is used
11 countries.
Same offset · UTC+02:00
Other zones at UTC+02:00 right now.
These named zones share CAT's offset today. When daylight saving rules differ, they drift apart for part of the year.
Convert
CAT to the world's clocks.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about CAT, daylight saving, and how to handle it in software. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].
- Which countries and regions officially use Central Africa Time?
- Eleven countries use Central Africa Time: Botswana, Burundi, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, including Lubumbashi.
- Does Central Africa Time change for daylight saving?
- No—the entire CAT region stays on the same offset all year, so residents never need to adjust clocks and international collaborators skip the biannual reshuffle.
- What is the origin of Central Africa Time?
- Most of these countries adopted UTC+02:00 as standard time in the colonial era, but membership has shifted since: Sudan returned from UTC+03:00 in 2017, South Sudan in 2021, and Namibia stopped its winter switch to UTC+01:00 in 2017.
- Is Central Africa Time the same as Central European Time?
- No—those two designations sound similar but are different concepts; Central African clocks run two hours ahead of UTC, versus Western/Central Europe’s seasonal UTC+01:00 and UTC+02:00 rules.
- What are the business and travel benefits of living in CAT?
- Hotels, flights, and cross-border traders between countries like Malawi, Botswana, Rwanda, and the DRC can plan without seasonal time conflicts, simplifying logistics and pricing.
- Which large countries span multiple time zones instead of staying in CAT?
- The DR Congo stretches across CAT (Lubumbashi) and West Africa Time (Kinshasa). It is the only Central Africa Time country split across two time zones.
- Can a country leave or join Central Africa Time?
- Yes. Each government sets its own time, and membership has changed recently: Sudan rejoined Central Africa Time in 2017 and South Sudan in 2021, both moving back from UTC+03:00.
- How does Central Africa Time compare to other African zones like EAT or WAT?
- EAT is one hour ahead and WAT one hour behind; East African capitals use daylight-free schedules similar to CAT, but among North African countries only Egypt observes daylight saving time.
- What should visitors know before traveling across CAT countries?
- Pack seasonal clothing for the tropics, not clock changes—business hours, meal times, and transport schedules run uniformly across Malawi, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, and their neighbors.
Source: IANA tzdb2026d · Reviewed
Free · Developer API
This time zone, as JSON.
Its defining offset, DST status and member counts, from one endpoint.
Also in the API: time zones by coordinates, conversions that flag daylight saving gaps, and abbreviations decoded.
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