Banks to share minting costs

Nov 29, 2004

Commercial banks may soon help Bank of Uganda (BOU) offset the huge costs of printing new bank notes and coins of up to sh10b a year, officials have said.

By Ricks Kayizzi

Commercial banks may soon help Bank of Uganda (BOU) offset the huge costs of printing new bank notes and coins of up to sh10b a year, officials have said.

Patrick Kaberenge, BOU’s director of currency said due to the deterioration of bank notes, BOU’s annual bill for printing notes had risen to between sh4b and sh10b.

Kaberenge said this in an interview during a seminar organised by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda at the Imperial Resort Beach Hotel, Entebbe, recently.

Kaberenge said they had decided to implement the proposal which make commercial banks share the costs of minting money.

“We are exploring ways of compelling commercial banks to share production and operational costs. There has been a need for new notes because old ones jam ATM machines and cause losses,” he said.

Kaberenge said printing one bank note costs sh200 while a coin costs sh100.

He said BOU is aiming at increasing the ratio between currency notes and coins to 80:20 within four years, from the current 90:10.

Kaberenge said the amount of money in circulating is about sh600b, of which sh38b is in coins.

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