emmanuel tumusiime - mutebile : the state of the financial sector in uganda address by mr emmanuel tumusiime - mutebile, governor of bank of uganda, to the annual general meeting of the uganda institute of bankers, bank of uganda, 23 june 2006. * * * the president, uganda institute of bankers, the council members, uganda institute of bankers, ordinary and student members, invited guests ladies and gentlemen it is an honour for me as the patron of the institute and governor bank of uganda to make remarks to this annual general meeting. it also offers me the opportunity to share and exchange views with the banking fraternity the state of the financial sector over the last one year. ladies and gentlemen, it is almost one year since we last met here on june 24, 2005 to take stock of the business of the institute and also lay strategies for addressing challenges within the banking industry. bank of uganda at that time made a commitment to foster a harmonious working relationship with all stakeholders of the financial sector in order to enhance safety, stability and efficiency in the sector. mr. president and council members, i am proud to report that bank of uganda has fulfilled that commitment and allow me to take this opportunity to restate our continued commitment to build and uphold a long term harmonious relationship with financial institutions and all stakeholders that have operated in partnership with bank of uganda to maintain a sound, safe and stable financial sector. at this juncture, let me assure this assembly that uganda ’ s financial sector has continued to be more resilient each passing year. during 2005, the financial sector soundness assessment by bank of uganda revealed an overall satisfactory performance of the sector. these achievements have resulted from a combination of various efforts from the management of the financial institutions, the regulatory authority and all other stakeholders in the financial sector. the obtaining stable macro economic environment has also gone a long way to augment the above efforts in fostering safety, soundness and stability of the financial sector. arising from the safety, soundness and stability of the financial sector, a number of technological innovations of banking products have emerged in the recent past. most banks now operate automated teller machines ( atms ), and points of sales facilities ( pos ). the use of credit and debit cards is increasingly being recognized as an important payment system option. this is beginning to take root in the economy. bankom ltd which was launched in june 2005 to operate an electronic national interbank switching system has already attracted the participation

emmanuel tumusiime - mutebile : the planned introduction of the east african monetary union remarks by mr emmanuel tumusiime - mutebile, governor of the bank of uganda, at the opening of the east african legislative assembly consultative workshop on the east african monetary union, kampala, 9 september 2013. * * * honourable ministers and honourable members of the east african legislative assembly ladies and gentlemen the issue that we have gathered here to discuss today – the planned introduction of the east african monetary union ( eamu ) – is one which will have profound effects on this region for decades to come. later this year i expect that the heads of state of each of the partner states of the east african community ( eac ) will sign the protocol for the introduction of the eamu. the protocol will pave the way for the transition to eamu over the course of the next 10 years and the complementary legal, institutional and economic reforms. the east african monetary union is a project with potentially large long term benefits for all of the economies in the eac but which also entails considerable risks. the long term success of eamu will be dependent upon major changes to public policy and in the way in which public policy is made in all partner states of the eac. a successful monetary union is only possible if each partner state is prepared to accept the pooling of its economic sovereignty. many economic decisions which are now made at the national level will have to be made at the regional level. this pooling of economic sovereignty extends beyond the loss of independent national monetary policy and exchange rates, which is of course inherent in a monetary union ; it also requires that each partner state accepts constraints on its fiscal policy and implements fully the provisions of the common market, including not just free trade in goods and services within the eac but also the free movement of capital and labour within the eac. if we do not build the requisite foundations for monetary union, the introduction of eamu may actually harm our economies. the problems which are currently being experienced by some of the peripheral members of the euro zone – greece, portugal and spain for example – which have lost competitiveness on international markets and can no longer use exchange rate depreciation to restore their competitiveness, should provide a salutary lesson to everyone involved in planning for the introduction of the eamu. without wishing to pre - empt any of the contributions from my colleagues in the eac secretariat, the ministry of finance, planning and economic