BoU Deputy Governor, Michael Atingi-Ego Ugandans will soon start buying government’s treasury bills and bonds via their cell phones, Chimp Corps report.
With 30 million registered mobile money customers, Uganda is looking to tap into that network by allowing mobile phone users to trade the government securities across their phones.
“With the backing of our prime partners at the Ministry of Finance, Bank of Uganda will democratize the trading in Government securities on mobile phones, through the “Project Okusevinga,”’ said BoU Deputy Governor, Michael Atingi-Ego.
“This initiative will facilitate broad-based retail investment in Government securities thereby promoting the optimal deployment of domestic savings,” he added.
Atingi-ego expressed optimism that digitisation of the process would reduce “the high yields that reflect dominance by the traditional players.”
The Deputy Governor made the remarks at Kampala Serena Hotel this week during the launch of Absa Economic Outlook and 2021 Africa Financial Markets Index.
The development means retail investors will no longer have to physically make bids for bonds at their bank branches but instead simply transfer funds from their mobile money wallets.
ChimpReports understands procurement for the Supply and Implementation of the Investment Management System (Project Okusevinga) to facilitate trading of government Securities using the mobile phone services is already underway.
Observers say the move will not only encourage the people to save their money in securities but also give the government a new source of cheap funds to finance its ambitious infrastructure projects especially construction of highways, railway lines and power generation projects.
Provisional data shows Uganda’s public debt as of end of April 2021 stood at 66.1 trillion shillings (18.9 billion U.S. dollars), up 15.1 percent from June 2020 largely due to increased borrowing from multinational lenders – IMF, World Bank and Chinese banks.
Government securities have always been a preserve of the country’s affluent class. However, with mass sensitisation campaigns, more Ugandans could take up the initiative.Moreso, the democratisation of the financial markets will give low income earners a choice to invest in low interest earning accounts in banks, mobile money wallets, and savings co-operatives.Atingi-Ego said the primary dealer reforms aligned Uganda’s financial market with international best practices, putting the country in a small class of African countries with a true primary dealership system.“Consequently, the liquidity in the secondary market of Government securities market rose from 54% pre-reforms in the year to October 2020 to 150% in the year ended October 2021. The securities are now tradeable online on […]
