Israel Arinaitwe, Stanbic Bank’s Head of Consumer Banking, says the effects of the high CBR started being felt towards the end of the year but hopes that as inflation slows down, lending the Rate will also fall and banks will lower theirs too.
Deputy Governor Michael Atingi-Ego says if Ugandans reduce their demand for the highly-priced international commodities, inflation at home can be tamed.
Dr Muhumuza says Uganda is suffering largely imported inflation and not local inflation that arises from too much money in public hands.
BOU Executive Director for Supervision Dr Twinemanzi Tumubweine says the slowdown in borrowing is because there are lower business activities, while the commercial banks are also worried about the increasing risk to lending.
The Central Bank on Tuesday raised its base interest rate, the Central Bank Rate in a bid to increase the cost of money to commercial banks so that the banks raise interest rates.
The Bank of Uganda has raised the Central Bank Rate by a percentage point to 8.5 percent, just a month after adjusting it to 7.5, as inflation spirals.
“Towards closure of the week the unit cooled off, lifted by the Central Bank dollar selling intervention and the hawkish monetary policy stance. In the regional markets, most Central Banks took similar hawkish actions to curb the soaring inflation across all economies,” says Patrick Kaboyo, Managing Director, Alpha Capital Markets.
“Private sector optimism picked up during February ending a two-month sequence of job cuts and leading to an improvement in the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) to 51.2 from 49.8 in January,” says the index produced by IHS Markit, a global industry information firm.
