KAMPALA, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Financial service providers in Uganda are reducing their charges to enable their clients cope during the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) that is expected to hit the country's economy hard.
Stanbic Bank in a statement issued here on Monday said it is partnering with the Uganda Bankers Association to support its clients in this time of need.
"We are encouraging our customers to make use of our digital channels as much as possible to conduct their daily banking activities and for making payments," the statement said.
"In order to support this initiative and ease the burden on customers, we have reviewed our pricing on selected services for the next 30 days effective March 23," the statement added.
Government has urged the public to maintain social distancing in order to prevent the spread of the disease that broke out in the country on Saturday.
Stanbic Bank said payments for utilities, pay television or taxes through the bank's application, online banking and mobile money would be free. Cash withdrawal of up to 50,000 shillings (about 14 U.S. dollars) per day either through agents or automated teller machines would be free.
"As we take on the new precautionary measures, Stanbic Bank will provide banking services to ensure your needs are catered for to minimize any distress during this time," the bank said.
The bank's statement comes several days after other providers especially through the mobile money platform have also announced cuts to their charges for the financial service.
Airtel Uganda on March 19 announced that person-to-person transactions on the mobile money platform would be free of charge for the next 30 days. This is aimed at limiting transactions by physical cash to digital transactions.
MTN Uganda, another telecommunication company last week also announced a similar move as Airtel.
Meanwhile the government on Monday formed a committee that will coordinate the private sector in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ruth Aceng, minister of health in a statement said the committee includes manufacturers, real estate, media, and service industry, among others to help coordinate and also mobilize resource in the battle against the virus.
"COVID-19 is a battle which we can only win if we join hands together as Ugandans. We should all be responsible and helpful to one another and collectively guard our country," said Aceng.
"The private sector has been quietly supporting the fight enormously. Let's join hands together in this battle," she added.
Ugandan Minister of Finance Matia Kasaija on March 19 told parliament that the east African country has suffered the effect of the pandemic, which forced the country to lower its economic growth projection for this financial year by 0.3 to 0.8 percentage point.
Kasaija said the projection was downgraded from the targeted 6 percent for the financial year 2019/2020, adding that in the worst scenario millions of Ugandans would be pushed into poverty.
The minister said to deal with this economic shock, both fiscal and monetary policy adjustments would be required.
He said the government would seek a concessional loan from the World Bank to deal with the financing gap in the national budget for the financial years 2019/2020 and 2020/2021. The amount would be 100 million U.S. dollars and 90 million dollars for the respective financial years.
Uganda is also considering beefing up the implementation of the import substitution and export promotion strategy.
Uganda has so far 9 confirmed cases of the COVID-19, all Ugandan nationals who traveled from Dubai between March 20-22.
