Uganda’s Public Debt Increased By 21.7% In 2020 To Shs63.3 Trillion-Report

Finance Minister Matia Kasaija has severally appeared before Parliament to seek approval for borrowing

Uganda’s total public debt increased by 21.7 percent in FY2019/20, the Bank of Uganda (BoU) Monetary Policy Report for December 2020 has revealed.

According to the report, external debt increased from US$ 8.35 to US$ 10.45 billion, while domestic debt increased from Shs16.2 trillion to Shs19.1 trillion.

“As a percentage of GDP, nominal public debt increased from 35.3 percent in June 2019 to 41.0 percent in June 2020. In Present Value terms, public debt to GDP increased from 27.0 percent to 31.8 percent,” the report reads in part.

It adds: “The provisional total public debt stock as at end October 2020 stood at Shs63.35 trillion, corresponding to an increase of 13.8 percent from June 2020 compared to an increase of 3.9 percent over the same period the previous year.”

According to the report,  Public external debt continued to maintain the dominant share of 67.5 percent of the total public debt

As a percentage of GDP, the report says, nominal public debt increased from 35.3 percent in June 2019 to 41.0 percent in June 2020.