david g opiokello : bank of uganda - recent achievements opening address by mr david g opiokello, deputy governor of the bank of uganda, on the occasion of the senior management workshop for the fy2005 / 2006 work plan and budget preparations, entebbe, 4 march 2005. * * * ladies and gentlemen : i welcome you all to this annual event. i would like to thank all bank staff who have been effectively participating in the implementation of the strategic plan 2003 - 2008. allow me to mention a few achievements. • the issuance of 2, 3, 5 and 10 year government bond was successfully done. • the bank successfully implemented automation of currency note processing. • the rtgs has been launched while that of the foreign exchange application had reached the stage of identifying the winning bidder. • on the capacity building front, the bank trained a number of staff on professional and academic courses, and most staff are now computer literate. • the installation of the internet link was a tremendous success for the bank. it has enormously eased communication both internally and externally and also helped to improve positively the perceptions of staff and external persons on the bou operations. last year around the same time in jinja, we resolved that this event is necessary for overcoming some of the challenges the bou faces in drawing up budgets and work plans. however, in spite of the resolutions we made last year the challenges in implementing and monitoring the current budget and annual work plans have remained onerous. i wish to point out three areas of major concern : 1. absence of the linkage between planning and budgeting best practice requires that annual work plans be closely linked with the budget. last year the budgeting exercise was carried out before agreeing on work plans. this caused a mismatch between planned activities and resources, with the resulting risk of making the whole work planning process irrelevant. part of this problem was caused by functions and departments not submitting their budgets and work plans according to the agreed submission calendar. it is, therefore, not surprising that the budget and work plans were approved late - in september 2004 for the budget and october 2004 for the annual work plans. to overcome this problem this year, we must strictly adhere to the timetable for submission of departmental budget proposals and work plans, which should then fit consistently into the overall budget. it means that functions and departments should give due time to the process so that documents are ready and approved according to schedule. 2. over / under budget

flourished through good and bad times. it has been a reliable partner for the business community. in recent years the bank has expanded both its branch network and its asset portfolio to take advantage of the robust growth in the business sector. good corporate governance, a commitment to providing high quality services to its customers and meticulous compliance with the regulatory and statutory requirements has been the hallmark of the bank. i would like to wish the bank of baroda the very best for the years to come. bis central bankers ’ speeches with these remarks, allow me to once again congratulate the shareholders, the board and senior management of bank of baroda for the issuance of bonus shares and for continuing to support both the development of the banking industry in uganda and the country ’ s capital markets. i hereby declare the bank of baroda bonus shares listed on uganda securities exchange. thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches