KAMPALA , Aug 5 (Reuters) - The Ugandan shilling held
its ground against the dollar on Friday, one day after the
country's central bank stepped in to stop the currency from
hitting a new record low.
The Bank of Uganda sold an unspecified amount of dollars on
Thursday as the shilling slid to 2,675/2,685 versus the dollar
-- not far off an all time low of 2,710 reached in June.
At 1100 GMT, commercial banks in the capital Kampala quoted
the shilling at 2,670/2,685 to the dollar -- in line with
Thursday's close of 2,670/2,680.
"It's just a very quiet day's trade," Faisal Bukenya, head of
market making at Barclay's Bank Uganda, said. "Very little
dollar demand in the market."
The central bank earlier this week raised its benchmark
lending rate by a full point to 14 percent and said it aimed to
cut inflation to its 5 percent target in 12-24 months.
Analysts and the central bank governor said the rate --
introduced last month -- may take some months to have an impact
on the shilling market.
