Bank of Uganda made a loss of Shs855 billion last year, according to the Auditor General’s report for December 2019.
According to the report, the Auditor General scrutinised the performance of different government corporations and entities and came up with best and worst performing agencies.
Anyone who has been reading reports about Bank of Uganda in the last two or three years, is not surprised that the central bank in particular lost Shs855 billion in last financial year which contrasts sharply with the Shs 424 billion profit they registered in 2018.
In April last year, government ran to Parliament seeking approval of Shs620.7 billion for the planned recapitalisation of BoU and other five banks.
For BoU, Ministry of Finance officials told MPs on Finance Committee that Shs484.2b was urgently needed to cover for deficits and losses accumulated since 2013.
Lawrence Ssemakula, the Accountant General in the Ministry of Finance told the committee that the Central Bank had indicated to the Ministry that it had suffered deficits since June 2013 and that the money was needed to avert an impending crisis.
Meanwhile, the auditor general report, also calls out Uganda Development Corporation as having made losses amounting to Shs17,571,299,000 from the Shs383,820,000 profits the agency made previously. There is no explanation for the losses yet.
Kilembe Mines Limited extended its loss-making streak in 2019 with Shs2,321,001,684 losses recorded although with an increment from Shs1,624,302,143 losses in 2018.
The other companies that recorded losses were Capital markets Authority Shs43,833,000, although this was a reduction from Shs1,330,205,000 the company made in 2018 and the other loss-making company was NEC Tractor Project whose losses soared to Shs389,305,722 up from Shs70,636,203 recorded in 2018.
On the other hand, the report indicated that 13 enterprises posted improved (increased profits or reduced loss) performance, with Uganda Electricity Generation Company, Uganda Property Holding and Civil Aviation Authority registering over 300 percentage increase.
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