Wild-cat strike action spilled over to other parts of the platinum industry, later moving to rest of the mining sector, and to the transport and agricultural sectors, resulting in a significant dent in global investor confidence in the country, which contributed to sovereign credit ratings downgrades by all three major rating agencies, and ultimately resulted in a further weakening in the exchange rate of the rand and higher borrowing costs for the country.
We at Bank of Uganda see the Rural Challenge Fund as another timely and significant initiative that will help cover some of the costs that the financial institutions incur in their endeavor to extend financial services to rural areas.