Shilling opens past Shs4,150 as Bloomberg reports offshore selling of bonds

What the report says

Uganda Business News reports that the Ugandan shilling opened on Tuesday at Shs4,152.86 to the dollar, crossing above the Shs4,150 level that one market participant had described as a key test point. The move came as Bloomberg cited offshore investors trimming their holdings of Ugandan government bonds, adding pressure to the currency.

According to the article, Bloomberg linked the shilling’s decline of more than 10% since 25 August to foreign selling, with Citigroup estimating that about $200 million had left Uganda’s markets over two weeks. Kampala-based asset manager Stephen Kaboyo of Alpha Capital Partners pointed to higher U.S. yields and said a recent debt auction was mainly taken up by local banks and pension funds. The story also noted that the shilling had fallen to its weakest level since at least 1993 in Bloomberg’s tracking.

Uganda Business News said the currency was 12.8% weaker than at the end of 2025 and 5.5% below the Bank of Uganda’s close on 1 October. It also cited central bank data showing gross reserves of $6.52 billion in August, equal to 3.6 months of import cover excluding oil-project imports. The report matters because it highlights pressure on Uganda’s foreign exchange market, the role of offshore bond flows, and debate over whether reserves should be used to support the currency.