Matia Kasaija, the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, preparing to read the budget speech for FY 2025/26
The stock of Uganda’s public debt is projected to increase to USD 31.5 billion, equivalent to Shs116 trillion, by end June 2025, Finance Ministry has revealed.
While delivering the budget speech for FY 2025/2026 at Kololo Independence Grounds on Thursday 12th June 2025, Matia Kasaija, the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, said of the USD 31.5 billion, external debt accounts for USD 15.49 billion, equivalent to Shs 56.3 trillion, and domestic debt USD 16 billion, equivalent to Shs 59.77 trillion.
“As a ratio of GDP, our public debt is estimated at 51.26 percent, which is consistent with the Charter of Fiscal Responsibility,” Kasaija said, adding that Uganda’s debt is sustainable and is projected to remain so in the medium to long term.
The total resource envelope for FY2025/26amounts to Seventy Two Trillion, Three Hundred and Seventy-Six Billion, Four Hundred and Eighty-One Million, Four Hundred Eighty-One Million, Five Hundred-Two Thousand, One Hundred-Three Shillings (72,376,481,502,103/=). According to Kasaija, domestic revenue will contribute Shs 37.55 trillion, of which Shs 33.94 trillion will be tax revenue, Shs 3.28 trillion non-tax revenue, and Shs328.6 billion Local Government revenue; domestic borrowing will contribute Shs 11.38 trillion; external financing for projects will contribute Shs 11.33 trillion of which Shs 2.8 trillion are grants and domestic refinancing of maturing domestic debt (new debt) will contribute Shs 10.03 trillion This means Uganda is set to borrow a total of Shs32.74 trillion in 2025/26.
Kasaija added that the debt has financed investments that support private sector growth by providing the requisite infrastructure.
“Over the last 10 years, the areas which public debt has financed include integrated transport infrastructure (29.3 percent), electricity infrastructure including power generation plants and transmission lines (27.6 percent), water for production and consumption (11.5 percent), agro-industrialisation (5.1 percent), education and health (5 percent), housing and urban development (3 percent), and development of industrial parks (2 percent),” Kasaija noted.
To maintain public debt sustainability, he said, Government is implementing domestic revenue mobilisation to increase revenue collection and reduce
Borrowing; mobilising more concessional financing from international financial institutions such as the World Bank, IMF, African Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, BADEA, etc and implementing the Okusevinga initiative, where Ugandans will invest.
The theme for the Shs72.3 trillion 2025/26 budget is “Full Monetization of the Ugandan Economy through Commercial Agriculture, Industrialization, Expanding and Broadening Services, Digital Transformation and Market Access.”
