Monday, 7 May 2012

Uganda shilling slips lower

The Ugandan shilling stumbled against the dollar on Monday and traders said the
shilling could remain under pressure due to persistently high
inflation that could curb demand for government securities.  
    At 1000 GMT, commercial banks posted the shilling at
2480/2490 per dollar, 0.4 percent weaker than Friday's close of
2460/2470. It had earlier touched a low of 2490/2500 due to
profit-taking, traders said. 
    "There was demand for dollars from petroleum guys and
manufacturing," said Ahmed Kalule, a trader at Bank of Africa. 
    The shilling hit a seven-week high of 2440/2450 on Friday
after the central bank's decision to hold its policy rate for
the second straight month at 21 percent.     
    "But the shilling is likely to be weak because of negative
returns on bills and bonds," Kalule said. 
    Like other frontier markets, Uganda's currency receives
support from investments into government securities from abroad,
as investors pursue high yields. 
    The yield on the 91-day Treasury bill inched down to 18.0
percent in last week's auction from 18.1 percent earlier, while
inflation remains above 20 percent.  
  
  UGX Spot Rate.....    
  Ugandan Shilling Money Guide....    
  Calculated Cross Rates..........    
  Deposits.....................    
  Deposits & Forwards.............    
  Uganda Equities Guide.......    
  Uganda All Share Index........    
  Shilling background .....    
  Ugandan Debt Guide............    
  All Uganda Bonds.............    
  Uganda T-Bills..............    
  Uganda Benchmark.............    
  Central Bank ................    
  Ugandan Contributor Index....    
  Uganda Coffee Prices.......  

Corruption Uganda

Since the National Resistance Movement (NRM) came to power in 1986, Uganda has undertaken an ambitious set of economic and political reforms. These reforms have led to the establishment of a solid legal, administrative and institutional framework to fight corruption. In spite of initial success widely heralded by the international community, corruption remains widespread at all level of society and the country faces major implementation challenges. Recent political developments tend to demonstrate a lack of political backing for anti-corruption efforts. Combined with understaffed and underfinanced anti-corruption bodies, the state faces considerable challenges in its ability to effectively enforce the legislative framework against corruption.