UGANDA MOVES TO ESTABLISH SOVEREIGN CURRENCY PRINTING FACILITY

NILE POST

Uganda has taken a step towards establishing a local currency printing facility following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Uganda Security Printing Company (USPC) and Germany-based K&B Banknote Solutions.

The MoU provides a framework for technical, security, feasibility and commercial assessments that will guide the proposed establishment of a Sovereign Currency Printing Facility in Uganda.

The agreement was signed at the Office of the President in Kampala and witnessed by Minister for the Presidency Milly Babalanda.

Babalanda said the project is intended to strengthen Uganda’s capacity to produce strategic government documents and instruments locally instead of relying on imports.

She said the proposed facility is part of President Yoweri Museveni’s long-standing vision of strengthening national sovereignty, promoting local value addition and building technical capacity.

“Uganda should have the ability to produce important instruments of the State locally, including currency, passports, national identity cards and academic certificates,” Babalanda said.

She said the project would also create opportunities for Ugandan engineers, technicians and young people to acquire skills in advanced security-printing technology.

Babalanda said skills transfer should be a central component of the partnership as Uganda moves towards a final agreement with K&B Banknote Solutions.

She said Ugandan engineers and technicians should work alongside German specialists during the planning, installation, testing and commissioning of the facility.

“We are not simply installing machines; we are building a national capability,” Babalanda said.

She added that K&B Banknote Solutions operates an academy that provides technical training to young people who work with its machines, expressing hope that Ugandans would benefit from the programme.

Babalanda said the project is aligned with Uganda’s industrialization and economic transformation agenda under the NRM Manifesto 2026-2031, the Fourth National Development Plan and Uganda Vision 2040.

She described local security printing as a high-technology and skills-intensive manufacturing activity capable of contributing to employment, technology transfer and industrial development.

The proposed facility would form part of broader efforts to increase Uganda’s capacity to produce sensitive state materials locally.

Babalanda said the Office of the President and USPC will establish a multi-sectoral technical committee to oversee the project.

The committee will include representatives from the Bank of Uganda, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Attorney General’s Chambers and relevant security agencies.

It will monitor implementation and assess progress against milestones in the agreed project roadmap.

Babalanda urged USPC to remain focused on the objectives of the partnership as preparations for the proposed facility continue.

The signing moves Uganda and K&B Banknote Solutions into the preparatory phase of the project, whose final establishment will depend on the outcome of the technical, security, feasibility and commercial assessments outlined in the MoU.

Written by newsroom-radiopacis