Abstract

The Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) is Uganda's principal stock exchange. It was founded in June 1997. The USE is operated under the jurisdiction of Uganda's Capital Markets Authority, which in turn reports to Uganda's central bank, the Bank of Uganda. The shareholders of the USE constitute brokers/ dealers and investment advisers as stated in The Capital Markets Authority Digest. "What is the Uganda Security Exchange?" pp 2. The process of achieving sustainable securities exchange through a social economic development particularly in Uganda-similar to many sub-Saharan African countries faces a myriad of challenges and outright obstacles. This is caused by weak capital markets, characterized by low investment levels and shallow finance sector systems inhibiting efficient financing of the sector's growth representing one of the challenges that should be addressed in the developing and attaining of Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) aspirations. Reliance on banks, on the other hand as a source of investible funds is therefore not sufficient since they provide only expensive, short-term debt financing rather than long-term. The concentration of banks in urban areas has also constrained efforts to monetize savings. As a result, savings in rural areas are held in real assets such as land and animals. As part of efforts to promote sustainable growth, mobilize savings and broaden the availability of funds for investment purposes, Uganda is actively promoting the development of its capital markets industry. The ultimate role of Uganda's capital market is to provide a means by which capital can be allocated within the economy. As such, the government is encouraging the development of the capital markets industry as a way of generating longterm capital for private sector development.