Gold hit its highest price ever at over 4300 dollars per ounce back in October, and Uganda made 4.2 billion from exports during the last financial year. The problem is that the country has zero gold stockpiled, even though the central bank keeps saying it wants to start buying. Bank of Uganda pushed its gold purchase program to next year again after saying the same thing in 2024, and the whole delay is getting sketchy because the reserves are basically all US dollars.
Governor Michael Atingi Ego admitted the dollar concentration creates risk, and he said the cabinet approved a domestic gold buying initiative that should start soon. Other African countries like South Africa and Egypt have already loaded up their reserves with physical gold to stabilize their currencies. The shilling gained about 3.4 percent against the dollar recently, but that advantage means almost nothing because Uganda barely imports from America anyway.
Governor Michael Atingi Ego admitted the dollar concentration creates risk, and he said the cabinet approved a domestic gold buying initiative that should start soon. Other African countries like South Africa and Egypt have already loaded up their reserves with physical gold to stabilize their currencies. The shilling gained about 3.4 percent against the dollar recently, but that advantage means almost nothing because Uganda barely imports from America anyway.
