Ugandan shilling banknotes

Ugandan shilling banknotes are official paper currency issues released by the Bank of Uganda. They were first introduced in 1966 to replace the circulating currency of the East African Currency Board at par. The initial banknote issue comprised denominations of 5, 10, 20, and 100 shillings. As economic conditions shifted over subsequent decades, the central bank expanded the range, introducing a 50-shilling note in 1973, 500-shilling and 1,000-shilling notes in 1983, and a 5,000-shilling note in 1985.

Following periods of high inflation, a revalued currency was established in 1987 at an exchange rate of one new shilling to one hundred old shillings. The Bank of Uganda consequently issued an entirely new banknote family in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, and 200 shillings. Higher values were steadily introduced in subsequent years to accommodate monetary needs: 500 and 1,000 shillings in 1991, 5,000 shillings in 1993, 10,000 shillings in 1995, 20,000 shillings in 1999, 50,000 shillings in 2003, and a 2,000-shilling note in 2010.

On 17 May 2010, the central bank released a redesigned family of banknotes intended to update security standards and harmonise national imagery. This series features distinct primary colours across its active values: brown for 1,000 shillings, blue for 2,000 shillings, green for 5,000 shillings, purple for 10,000 shillings, red for 20,000 shillings, and yellow for 50,000 shillings. Five shared motifs decorate all six modern denominations: traditional Ugandan mat patterns, basketry, a map of Uganda indicating the equator line, the Independence Monument, and the profile of a man wearing a Karimojong headdress. The series also incorporated the SPARK optical security feature.