The Minister of Finance, Matia Kasaija has assured Ugandans that despite the confusing global economic trends characterised with stiff trade tariffs, decrease in cheap credit, Government will ensure that Uganda’s economy isn’t mortgaged through external borrowing, but instead seek to raise revenue internally.
He made the pronouncement during the High-Level 9th Economic Growth Forum, held at Kampala Serena Hotel, while addressing key stakeholders on strategic policies and investment initiatives that will enhance Uganda’s economic resilience, accelerate productivity and boost competitiveness in pursuit of the Tenfold Growth, proposals the Ministry argues will inform the national budget priorities and growth strategy for FY 2026/27.
“I believe in value for money and this people. We shall cut waste. We shall not mortgage our country. And we shall not allow arrears and leakages to cripple economic activity. We will reward those who perform and hold accountable those who do not. That is how we protect the budget, the taxpayer and the wealth creator. With the global financing tightening, Uganda must now look inward and raise our own revenue. We must live within our means. That means saving more, widening the tax base fairly and making sure every shilling collected is put to good use. We must also look into the huge potential of mobilising private savings through pensions, capital markets and even our diaspora so that Ugandan money builds Uganda.,” said Kasaija.
It should be recalled that in order for Government to finance the UGX72.376Trn budget for 2025/26, Government intends to borrow UGX32.075Trn which is equivalent to 44.3% of the national budget while UGX34.051Trn will be raised through tax revenue collections by Uganda Revenue Authority, thus accounting for 47% of the total budget requirements.
The Minister’s remarks also come at the time when the Quarterly Debt Statistical Bulletin and Public Debt Portfolio Analysis for March 2025 indicated that Uganda’s total public debt stock increased to US$30.19 Billion (Shs107.294Trn) as at end March 2025 from US$29.06 Billion (Shs103.345Trn) as at end December 2024. Out of this, domestic debt constituted 51.19% (USD 15.45 billion/UGX 56.60 trillion) and external debt 48.80% (USD 14.74 Billion/UGX 53.95 trillion).
However, despite the concerns over the increasing public debt, Minister Kasaija assured Ugandans that through maintaining the peace and security that Uganda has attained during the President Museveni 40year reign, money will come to pockets and bras of Ugandans.
“Colleagues, money will come. You love to hear that word. Colleagues, money will come but only if we stay disciplined, organised, productive in our work, prudent in our savings and deliberate in our investment. And everybody must have an activity that brings money into her kalenga (bra) and in the pocket. No country, and certainly not Uganda, can develop on borrowed money alone. As external financing declines, exports must take on a bigger role in sustaining our economy. But we cannot stop at coffee. Our export basket is diversifying with new products like ICT equipment, vaccines, processed foods and cement, while services like tourism, business, education,” explained Minister Kasaija.
Ramathan Ggoobi, Secretary to Treasury also re-echoed the need for Uganda to maintain the discipline of paying it debts and arrears and ensure that all revenue generated from oil production is spent on investment not consumption to avoid the mistakes made by some oil nations.
He noted, “We must avoid investing our oil money in non-tradables. I think most of this is preaching to the converted. Because, as you know, Uganda has already escaped that. You know very well our frameworks and how long we have kept that oil in the ground until we have secured the best way of spending this money. Already, we have been told that the global context is confusing, there are tariffs, the aid is declining and the concession of financing is also disappearing. China’s port is drying up. Number two, that we have to export to become competitive. In other words, competitiveness is synonymous with export. Number three, that we must keep the discipline of paying our bills and also our debts.”
The Keynote Speaker, Stefan Dercon, a Professor of Economic Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and the Economics Department at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom asked the Ugandan Government to ensure that Uganda invests in its oil revenue reasonably and not look at the changes in global geopolitics as an impediment to its goal of the ten fold economic growth, but rather as an opportunity to diversity its economy and export markets.
Dercon stated, “Come to Uganda, you barely have the medium oil. Maybe 50-60 dollars oil, with other natural resources you will get to 100. You have to find that balance between just using the resources to keep it all as it is, the status quo. On the other hand, there is a risk there to say, hey, we can do amazing things and we can actually pay back later. And we can do this fiscally, monetary. The politics of natural resources, the political economy of natural resources, that’s your challenge. Raising expectations and aspirations is a tricky thing here, and you have to be very careful.”
