FALSE: Bank of Uganda has not banned the Shs1,000, Shs20,000 or Shs50,000 notes
Claim:
A TikTok video claims that the Bank of Uganda (BoU) is not aware of the Shs1,000 banknote and that the note was banned a long time ago. It advises people who still have the note to take it to a bank and exchange it for a new one.
The video also claims that the Shs1,000 note is no longer accepted in major supermarkets.
At the time of verification, the TikTok video had received over 28,000 views, 817 likes, 42 comments, 36 bookmarks and 21 shares.
Background
The claim is not the first time the TikTok account has published information alleging that Ugandan banknotes have been withdrawn from circulation.
In June 2026, the same account published a similar video showing Shs20,000 and Shs50,000 banknotes and claiming that the two denominations were being eliminated by the Bank of Uganda. The post similarly advised people holding the notes to take them to a bank and exchange them.
There has also been a separate, documented discussion about the Shs1,000 paper note. In 2023, the Bank of Uganda began considering replacing the paper note with a Shs1,000 coin as part of efforts to reduce the cost of issuing frequently used low-denomination notes.
However, the process did not result in the immediate withdrawal of the paper note. A July 2025 report by Daily Monitor found that the Shs1,000 paper note remained in circulation, while the Bank of Uganda said the process of introducing the coin had proved more difficult than anticipated. The Bank said the plan remained on the table but had no timeline. The Shs1,000 coin was already in circulation alongside the paper note.
Findings
The claim that the Shs1,000 banknote has been banned is false.
Bank of Uganda‘s currency information lists Shs1,000 among Uganda’s banknotes in circulation. The same information lists Shs2,000, Shs5,000, Shs10,000, Shs20,000 and Shs50,000 as banknote denominations in circulation.
This means the Shs20,000 and Shs50,000 notes shown in the June social-media post are also not denominations that have been eliminated from Uganda’s currency system.
Since the Bank of Uganda is the institution responsible for issuing Uganda’s currency, the claim that it is “not aware” of the Shs1,000 note is false.
The earlier proposal to replace the Shs1,000 banknote with a coin also does not support the TikTok claim. In 2023, BoU was considering the change, but the proposal concerned the form of the Shs1,000 denomination, not the abolition of Shs1,000 as a denomination. Reporting at the time said the bank was considering gradually withdrawing the paper note as part of the process.
The claim that supermarkets no longer accept the Shs1,000 note also does not establish that the note has been withdrawn by the Bank of Uganda. A particular business refusing a note is not evidence of a nationwide withdrawal of the denomination.
Methodology
We reviewed the Bank of Uganda’s official information on currency denominations and legal tender, including its currency-management information.
We also reviewed reporting on the 2023 proposal to replace the Shs1,000 banknote with a coin.
We additionally examined reports concerning the similar 2026 social-media claims that Shs20,000, Shs50,000 and Shs10,000 notes were being withdrawn from circulation.
Verdict
FALSE.
The Bank of Uganda has not banned the Shs1,000 banknote. The Shs1,000, Shs20,000 and Shs50,000 notes are among the banknote denominations listed by the Bank of Uganda as being in circulation.
The TikTok claim appears to confuse the earlier discussion about potentially replacing the Shs1,000 paper note with a coin with a ban on the denomination itself. Similar social-media claims that other Ugandan banknotes had been eliminated have also previously been dismissed as false.
There is therefore no basis for telling people to exchange genuine Shs1,000, Shs20,000 or Shs50,000 notes simply because of these social-media posts.