By Taddewo Senyonyi & Jeff Winters
On Friday, August 17, 2012, during a dinner to celebrate 100 years of existence in Uganda, of Standard Chartered Bank Uganda Limited, Dr. Louis Kasekende, Deputy Governor, Bank of Uganda told bankers gathered at the dinner that the central bank was increasingly getting concerned about the high interest rates charged by the industry on borrowers.In fact, he stopped short of calling the bankers greedy.
He told them this: “Net interest margins are very high in Uganda, at about 13 percent on average, and are actually higher now than they were five years ago. Spreads this high will be perceived, understandably, as exploitative by many bank customers. He went on to offer advice: “ I believe that it will serve the long term interests of the banks themselves if they could reduce these spreads.
