Despite protests from the Central Bank Board, The Bank of Uganda has been asked to release the sum to UK merchant bank, HSBC Equator. HSBC Equator has agreed with the Bank of Uganda to lend Hassan Basajjabalaba, trading as Basajjabalaba Hides & Skins Ltd (BHSUL) the money to help the company pay off various loans. The proposal, prepared by the Bank of Uganda’s Director of Commercial Banking Ms Justine Bagyenda, would spread the businessman's $30.2 million debt between five different banks including two foreign banks operating in Uganda. According to the Bank of Uganda, BHSUL played a major role in increasing the country’s exports of hides and skins from $6.5 million in 1999 to $22.7 million in 2000.

But the board has warned the move would set a bad precedent for the country, observing that BHSUL business contributed only 5% of the country's foreign exchange earnings. When coffee, the main export and country's highest foreign exchange earner experienced problems, there was no rescue of any coffee exporter by the Bank of Uganda, the board says.

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