Ugandan shilling steady after central bank mops up liquidity

25 Oct, 2013

KAMPALA: The Ugandan shilling held steady on Friday, supported by the central bank mopping up liquidity via repurchase agreements. At 1048 GMT commercial banks quoted the currency of east Africa's third-largest economy at 2,525/2,530, little changed from Thursday's close of 2,528/2,533.

Ahmed Kalule, a trader at Bank of Africa, said the central bank's move to mop up liquidity had reduced demand in the market for a globally weaker dollar, propping up the shilling.

The Bank of Uganda had been injecting liquidity into the market using reverse repos, which weakened the shilling in recent sessions. A tight monetary policy stance by the central bank this year has kept private sector credit expensive, limiting consumer spending and helping the local currency strengthen this year.

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