This is what the executive director in charge of research at the Central Bank of Uganda told Reuters on Wednesday, attributing the sharp increase (from $514.8 million exported in 2018, Uganda has risen to $1.25 billion in 2019) to the growing demand for bullion - gold remains a safe haven - and an increase in the country’s refining capacity (which has a total of four refineries), especially since the commissioning of the Africa Gold Refinery in 2016. As a reminder, in 2018 gold overtook coffee as Uganda’s largest export and source of foreign exchange for the first time. The country is expected to continue to record a significant increase in gold exports, as despite low domestic production (equivalent to US$50 million), it is establishing itself as a regional hub for the trade in this precious metal, which is mostly imported from the entire Great Lakes region of Africa and southern Sudan, as well as from Venezuela last year.