KAMPALA: The Ugandan shilling was stable on Tuesday, helped by sluggish corporate demand for dollars as importers stayed on the sidelines betting on a cheaper greenback in the coming days.
At 0849 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 2,997/3,007, barely moved from Monday's close of 2,998/3,008.
"Most corporates are staying out of the market because they say at current levels the dollar is very expensive," said Sage Daniel Muganza, trader at Centenary Bank. "They're waiting to come in when the rate goes down."
However, Muganza said, interbank players are likely to start building positions after a central bank injection of liquidity via a seven-day reverse repo on Tuesday.
The central bank injected into the market 239 billion shillings ($79.75 million) via the seven-day reverse repurchase agreement (repo).
Reverse repos normally make it slightly cheaper for banks to hold dollars by improving liquidity in the money markets.
The shilling is down 7.7 percent against the dollar this year. Last month, the central bank raised its key lending rate to 12 percent from 11 percent in part to limit the depreciation.
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