1 Shilling Magnetic

The steel-core variant of Uganda's shilling emerged as a cost-cutting measure during the economic catastrophe of Idi Amin's regime, when foreign currency reserves had collapsed and importing the nickel required for solid copper-nickel blanks became increasingly difficult. The "a" suffix in the KM designation distinguishes it from the earlier non-magnetic copper-nickel strikes, and the magnetic property is the quickest field test for separating the two types.