the local switch. i am also glad to recognize that this facility will greatly help our international visitors during the forthcoming chogm meetings. it is encouraging to note that a major focus of the orient xpress visa project will be provision of basic banking services in rural areas of uganda through the deployment of point of sale machines to rural trading centers. i am informed that this orient bank initiative has been strongly supported by usaid rural speed project who deserves our unreserved praise. it is my ardent hope that this initiative will prove a success, which will be replicated by other banks. there is too high a proportion of the branches of commercial banks concentrated in kampala and its environs while many regional towns, let alone the rural areas, are neglected in terns of access to financial services. ugandan bank customers have been relatively slow to adopt many of the features that card technology offers. in many cases, ugandans carry around sums of cash that are far too large for safety because they do not know that there are other ways of doing business. it is therefore important that people should know what options are available to them to make the management of their money and their daily financial transactions easier. in this regard, i would urge orient bank to embark on a rural information campaign to promote wide use of orient xpress visa card. such a campaign, if vigorously implemented, could enable some customers who are presently bankable but do not have accounts to skip a whole generation of technology and go straight to the use of plastic money. the bank of uganda fully backs such developments and pledges all the necessary support to financial institutions, which pro - actively initiate innovations of financial products as they foster financial deepening. consequently, bank of uganda congratulates orient bank limited upon this historic achievement. however, while the bank of uganda very much welcomes innovations, we know that such initiatives come along with a wide range of inherent risks which should be carefully evaluated and credible mitigation measures instituted in order to ensure not only the safety of depositors ’ funds but also the soundness of the financial system. consequently, all supervised financial institutions planning to roll - out new financial products must conduct comprehensive evaluation of inherent risks associated with such products and proceed to institute credible risk management framework prior to launching such products. i am reliably informed that orient bank limited has met these requirements. turning to the current state of uganda ’ s financial sector, i must confirm to the public that the sector has continued to be sound and resilient

emmanuel tumusiime - mutebile : the national commemoration of the bank of uganda ’ s 50th anniversary opening remarks by mr emmanuel tumusiime - mutebile, governor of the bank of uganda, at the national commemoration of the bank of uganda ’ s 50th anniversary, kampala, 3 august 2016. * * * your excellency the president honourable ministers honourable members of parliament former governors of the bank of uganda governors and deputy governors of our fellow central banks in the region members of the diplomatic corps distinguished guests ladies and gentlemen, i would like to thank all of you for taking the time to be with us this morning, on the occasion of the bank of uganda ’ s 50th anniversary. i would especially like to express my gratitude to his excellency the president for gracing this occasion with his presence and showing his support for the bank of uganda. the history of the bank of uganda over the last fifty years reflects, in many respects, the history of independent uganda. like our country, the bank has experienced both good times and bad. during the 1970s and 1980s the bank suffered, along with the rest of ugandan society, from political and economic turbulence and the breakdown of governance. our first governor, dr. joseph mary mubiru, was abducted and murdered in 1971, a fate he shared with tens of thousands of his fellow citizens. we honour his memory every year with the joseph mubiru memorial lecture. during the years of turbulence, many staff of the bank of uganda strove bravely and tirelessly, against numerous obstacles, to keep the bank functioning properly for the welfare of all ugandans. the second half of the bank ’ s 50 years of existence has undoubtedly been more propitious than the first. over the course of the last three decades, the bank of uganda has played its part, first in putting the economy back on its feet and then supporting a sustained recovery of real growth in the economy. economic recovery would not have been possible, of course, without the restoration of peace and security in the country and the rebuilding of the institutions of government. i would like to highlight two areas where the bank of uganda has made a crucial contribution to the recovery of the ugandan economy. the first is the control of inflation, which began in the early 1990s. inflation was brought under control by a combination of fiscal and monetary reforms. the ministry of finance curbed domestic borrowing to finance the fiscal deficit and the bank of uganda controlled the growth of the money supply