Converting From Dollars to Shillings

     I figured that it would be helpful to put a post together explaining  the difference value wise between the US dollar and the Ugandan Shilling. This is mostly to help make things easier to understand when I throw money amounts out there in the Ugandan Shilling. It can seem a bit complicated but atleast for those here we get used to thinking in terms of shillings, but grow used to converting it.

 

     With this I will start at the basics of the money here. The currency here is the Ugandan Shilling (UGX), and it comes in a number of different amounts. For the coins you have a 100, 200, and 500 shilling coins. In paper bills you have a 1000, 2000, 5000, 10000, 20000, and 50000 shilling bills. Really the most commonly used on a day to day bases (unless in a larger store) are 5,000 UGX (and smaller) then all the coin values. 

 

     Now that a framework as the denominations of currency available it is time to move into talking and currency conversion. I will say right up front until you get used to converting between the two currencies it can be a little intimidating. So with this we will start again with basics, one USD (United States Dollar) is currently worth 2,670 UGX. So with this as a building block it makes things easy, $10 is worth 26,700 UGX and $100 is worth 267,000 UGX. 

 

     Well here comes the harder part for many converting  from the shilling to the dollar. I know for me this has been the hardest part. When you grow up on one money system, having to go through the process of thinking in terms of another currency isn't easy. Here is a crash course on how I do it most of the time. I usually think in terms of two bills here, the 2,000 and the 20,000. Right now the 2,000 bill is worth .75 USD while the 20,000 is worth $7.49 USD. That is sorta the baseline that I start with when figuring out the cost of different items.

 

 Here are the prices for a few of the common things we pay for:

 Item                                                UGX Price                                               USD Price

Boda                                                                 1,000-2,000                                                               .37-.75

Soda (300ml)                                                     1,000                                                                          .37

Soda (500ml)                                                   1,800-2,000                                                               .67-.75

Average meal at Ark Cafe                             12,000-15,000                                                         $4.49- $5.61

250 G bag of coffee                                        7,500-9,600                                                             $2.80- $3.59

1 liter of Juice                                                  4,900                                                                         $1.83

Small loaf of Wheat bread                             2,000                                                                            .75

Pack of ramen noodles                                   1000-1500                                                               .37-.56

 

 

     I could add a lot more to the list, but this is just to give a glimpse into something I do every day. Hopefully this will help in future when I put prices in Ugandan shillings.