Uganda to get Credit Reference Bureau

Lack of physical addresses and a national identification system is a challenge to the effective development of a credit reference bureau system in the country. This follows the launch of the system by a south African Company Compuscan CRB limited which has been mandated by bank of Uganda to offer these services.

The governor of Bank of Uganda Prof. Emmanuel Mutebile told members of parliament that the central bank has planned education and sensitization programmes throughout the country. The target stakeholders include the borrowers and participating financial institutions.

Professor Mutebile said that the system is a new development in Uganda and many people may not understand its functions and benefits to the national economy.

The system will collect and compile information on individuals' or firms' credit obligations and repayment records. By so doing the governor says, an effort will have been put to clean up bad credit culture.

The credit reference bureau regulations were gazetted in September 2005 and any company that wishes to invest in this venture has to have 200 million shillings invested in such liquid assets as the central bank may approve.

During their meeting with the state minister for tourism, Serapio Rukundo, he assured them that government intends to settle them in the allocated 6,000 hectares on permanent basis as arranged.

He adds that government instituted a committee to handle the resettlement of the community after facilitating the removal of the encroachers on the land.