The Bank of Uganda (BOU) has refuted recent reports suggesting that the printing of Uganda currency notes within the country is scheduled to commence next year. In a statement shared on the platform X (formerly Twitter), BOU emphasized that the responsibility for printing the local currency, the Uganda Shilling, squarely rests within its purview.
“Bank of Uganda, which has the mandate to print the Uganda shilling, has no plans of printing currency domestically next year,” stated BOU in a message posted on Wednesday night.
Contrary to this assertion, on June 11, 2016, a joint venture agreement was established between Uganda Printing and Publishing Corporation (UPPCL), the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, the Office of the President, and the consortium of Veridos GmbH and Giesecke and Devrient GmbH. This agreement aimed at producing various security documents, including banknotes, passports, national IDs, and cheques.
The collaborative effort led to the formation of Uganda Security Printing Company (USPC) Ltd, a joint venture company responsible for the printing of security documents, operating under the purview of the President’s Office. USPC has since been engaged in printing national IDs and cheques, among other documents.
President Yoweri Museveni, at the time of signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), expressed concerns about the financial drain resulting from printing the local currency abroad. He noted an annual expenditure of about $25 million on the printing of Ugandan currency, deeming it an unjustifiable hemorrhage of resources.