Africa Financial Sector Responses to COVID-19 - Uganda

Jul 22, 2020

This page presents measures and initiatives by the government of Uganda, national central bank and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) in support of a resilient domestic financial sector facing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Instrument

Institution

Financing volume

Description

Monetary Policy

Bank of Uganda (BOU)

N/A

(June 08, 2020) BOU has further reduced key rates:
* Reduced the Central bank rate (CBR) from 8% to 7%;
* Reduced the band on the CBR by 1 percentage point to +/-2.

Monetary Policy

Bank of Uganda (BOU)

N/A

(April 06, 2020) BOU has put the following measures in place:
* Reduced the Central Bank Rate (CBR) from 9% to 8%;
* Ordered supervised financial institutions (IFCs) to defer payments of all dividend distributions and bonuses for at least 90 days starting in March 2020, depending on the evolution of the pandemic;
* Provide exceptional liquidity assistance to commercial banks for a period of up to one year;
* Provide liquidity to commercial banks for a longer period through issuance of reverse REPOs of up to 60 days at the CBR, with opportunity to roll over;
* Buy Treasury bills held by deposit-taking microfinance institutions (MDI) and credit institutions (CIs) to alleviate their liquidity problems;
* Exceptional agreement at the Supervised Financial Institutions (SFIs) to restructure corporate and individual loans, including a moratorium on loan repayments for borrowers who have been affected by the pandemic, on a case-by-case basis, at the discretion of the SFIs, for up to 12 months, starting April 1, 2020.

Regulatory relief

Government

N/A

(April 01, 2020) Struggling Ugandan companies  will be allowed to defer their contributions to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) for the next three (3) months without accumulating penalties.

 

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