BANK OF UGANDA TO SHUT DOWN KEY PAYMENT SYSTEMS FOR 4-DAY UPGRADE, CASH FLOW DISRUPTIONS EXPECTED

Daily monitor

Businesses, government agencies, and individuals across the country face impending payment delays and cash flow disruptions following the Bank of Uganda’s announcement that it will temporarily shut down its core national payment systems for four days to undergo a major infrastructure upgrade.

In a notice issued on Tuesday evening, the central bank confirmed that it will suspend services for both the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system and the Automated Clearing House (ACH). The planned outage will take effect at 5:00 PM on Thursday, November 5, and will run through 9:00 AM on Monday, November 9. Consequently, high-value interbank transfers, direct debits, bulk salary payments, and cheque clearances scheduled for Friday will remain frozen until systems resume on Monday morning.

“The Bank of Uganda will suspend its RTGS and ACH services from 5:00 PM on Thursday, November 5, until 9:00 AM on Monday, November 9, to facilitate a planned system upgrade,” the central bank stated in its official notice.
The central bank emphasized that the temporary shutdown forms part of a broader regional integration initiative aimed at modernizing domestic financial networks.

“This upgrade is part of efforts to implement the East African Community Cross-Border Payment System Masterplan and will strengthen the efficiency, reliability, resilience, and interoperability of Uganda’s national payments infrastructure,” the statement added.

The RTGS, also known as the Uganda National Interbank Settlement System (UNISS), serves as the backbone of Uganda’s financial system by facilitating instant settlements for time-critical, high-value transactions, government securities, interbank transfers, and money market operations. Statistics from the central bank highlight its critical role in the economy, showing that the system processed 215,831 transactions valued at Shs79.6 trillion ($18.8 billion) in May alone. Meanwhile, the ACH system—which handles retail credit transfers, direct debits, and cheque clearances—processed 1.45 million transactions worth Shs6.7 trillion in August.

To mitigate operational delays, the central bank urged the public to plan ahead and seek clarification from commercial lenders. “Customers seeking guidance on transaction-specific arrangements, including alternative payment channels, are advised to contact their respective financial institutions,” the regulator noted.

Although the Bank of Uganda did not explicitly detail which secondary payment avenues will remain operational, banking industry sources confirmed that internal transfers between accounts within the same bank, mobile money transfers, ATM withdrawals, and point-of-sale card payments that do not depend on RTGS clearing are expected to function normally throughout the maintenance window.

Economic analysts and industry observers have nevertheless warned that the four-day freeze could trigger localized liquidity bottlenecks. Businesses relying on interbank Electronic Funds Transfers (EFTs) to pay suppliers, government ministries processing vendor invoices, and private companies with scheduled Friday payrolls are likely to encounter significant delays, with financial institutions bracing for a heavy transaction backlog when processing resumes on Monday.

The scheduled shutdown coincides with rapid growth in domestic digital payment volumes. According to recent data published in the Uganda Economic Bulletin, mobile money transactions reached Shs421 trillion in the 12 months leading to June 2026, while total RTGS transaction values hit Shs963 trillion over the same period, illustrating the economy’s heavy reliance on uninterrupted payment infrastructure.

Written by newsroom-radiopacis