The Ugandan shilling, denoted by UGX, is the official currency of Uganda. The UGX has proven a relatively stable currency which has prevailed in the majority of Uganda's financial transactions. Uganda has an efficient foreign exchange market with narrow spreads. The Bank of Uganda is debating replacing the lower value notes such as 1000 shilling with coins, as these notes are widely handled and take a battering in daily use, which causes them to be very filthy.
Sovereign Ratings for Uganda
Uganda is not rated.
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Political Structure
Uganda's politics are based on a democratic parliamentary system. Its government contains three braches: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial.
The executive branch is run by the Head of State, which is the president. He is elected for a five-year term by popular vote. From the elected legislatures, the president appoints a cabinet. The president with the assistance of the prime minister does supervision of the cabinet.
Legislative responsibility is held with the unicameral national assembly, which contains 303 seats. Out of these 303, 214 members are directly elected and legally established special interest groups nominate the remaining 81. The breakdown is as follows: women-56, army-10, disabled-5, youth-5, and labor-5.
The judicial branch works as an independent branch of government and is made up of the magistrate's courts, high courts, courts of appeals, and Supreme Court. The president appoints the High Court judges, while the Court of Appeal judges are appointed by the president and approved by the legislature.
Prominent Figures
Chief of State: President Yoweri Museveni, since March 2001
Head of Government: Prime Minister Apolo Nsibambi
Governor, Bank of Uganda: Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, serves a five-year contract
Key Economic Factors
Overview: Uganda has very many important natural resources such as fertile soils, consistent rainfall, and considerable mineral deposits of copper and cobalt. This all accounts for the fact that Uganda's most important sector of the economy being agriculture as it employs over 80% of the work force and coffee accounts for the majority of export revenues. Ever since 1986, Uganda's government with the assistance of foreign countries and international agencies has undergone policy changes to help restore and stabilize its economy. Specifically, the reforms targets are to curb inflation and promote production and export earnings. From 1990-2001 these reforms, which included: the continuous investment in the rehabilitation of infrastructure, better incentives for production and exports, cutting inflation, enhancing domestic security, and the return of Indian-Ugandan exiled entrepreneurs, all helped Uganda's economy reach a solid performance. However, maintaining strong growth remains somewhat dubious due to corruption within the government and their falling of determination to pursue reforms. However, from 2001-2004 Uganda's export markets continued to show a solid growth.
Industries: Sugar, brewing, tobacco, cotton textiles, cement, and steel production.
Agriculture Products: Coffee, tea, cotton, tobacco, cassava (tapioca), potatoes, corn, millet, pulses; beef, goat meat, milk, poultry and cut flowers.
Major Trading Partners: Kenya, Switzerland, Netherlands, India, Belgium and UAE.
Import Commodities: Capital equipment, vehicles, petroleum, medical supplies and cereals.
Export Commodities: Coffee, fish and fish products, tea, gold, cotton, flowers and horticultural products.
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