ERICK MAINA
If you are planning on gifting your Ugandan friend with a bouquet of bank notes arranged like a bouquet of flowers, you better start looking for another gift. The Bank of Uganda has come up with new rules and regulations.
You have probably seen pictures of your favorite online couples getting bouquets of money as gifts. Well, in Uganda this will no longer be a gift choice. The Bank of Uganda has officially banned bank notes as gifts.
According to the Bank of Uganda, the folding of banknotes to make the bouquet shortens the currency of the banknotes. According to the BoU, the use of money to make a bouquet is a misuse of the banknote.
“Banknotes are a medium of exchange and a store of value, so the Central Bank prints banknotes. Therefore, it is fair-minded to call banknote accessorisation within bouquets a misuse of money.” The director of communications at Bank of Uganda, Charity Mugumya mentioned.
This came after a statement was circulating online from what seemed to be from the Bank of Uganda. The statement claimed that anyone caught gifting their loved ones a gift through banknotes would be charged and taken to prison.
The Bank of Uganda immediately responded to this statement. They distanced themselves from the circulating statement but pointed out that they were committed to maintaining the integrity of the Ugandan banknotes.
The trend has become popular in Uganda, especially at weddings and right before the candidates sit for their national exam. Parents were gifting their children bouquets of money. This led the Ministry of Education to issue a warning to parents against cash gifts.
