Ramathan Ggoobi, the Secretary to Treasury
Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) will be required to collect revenue to a tune of UGX40.090Trn in 2026/27 Financial Year, up from the UGX36.806Trn that the tax body is expected to collect in 2025/26.
The revelation is contained in the first budget call circular for the preparation of the budget framework papers and preliminary budget estimates for Financial Year 2026/27 that was issued on 15th September 2025 by Secretary to Treasury, Ramathan Ggoobi to all accounting officers in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and Local Governments.
“The total preliminary resource envelop for 2026/27 amounts to UGX69.399Trn down from UGX72.376Trn in 2025/26 of which; the domestic revenue for 2026/27 are projected at UGX40.090Trn up from UGX36.806Trn in FY2025/26. This is partly explained by the continued implementation of the second Domestic Revenue Moblisation Strategy for FY2025/26 to 2029/30,” wrote Ggoobi.
The Ministry of Finance also provided a breakdown of its anticipated borrowing indicating that domestic borrowing for FY2026/27 is projected at UGX8.952Trn from UGX11.381Trn in FY2025/26 and the reduction is on account of the need to maintain debt in sustainable levels, the need to reduce interest payments relative to revenues and phasing out some of the one off expenditures in the FY2025/26 budget like funding for the electoral road map 2026, AFCON requirements, mass registration and renewal of National IDs.
Government also plans to spend UGX9.68Trn down from UGX10.028Trn in FY2025/26 on domestic Debt Refinancing roll-over for 2026/27, while there are concerns over the reduction in budget financing that is projected to reduce from UGX2.084Trn in FY2025/26 to just UGX330.97Bn, while external project financing for FY2026/27 is projected to reduce to UGX10.018Trn from UGX11.327Trn in FY2025/26
The Ministry of Finance also highlighted key areas of focus in various programmes and sectors with the Budget Call Circular indicating that in agriculture, the focus will be on reversing low productivity in agriculture by commercialising and formalising farming and increasing market access through promoting value added agro-based exports.
“They key reforms in FY2026/27 will include adopting a business model for input distribution, cost sharing between Government and farmers for input acquisition and operationalising the revolving financing mechanism for livestock vaccines,” as noted in the circular.
For the case of tourism, Government’s strategy in 2026/27 seeks to increase tourist inflows while doubling average expenditure and length of stay, while also, medium term efforts will prioritise last-mile road, air, water connectivity, as well as electricity and ICT access to major sites with special attention to Mt. Rwenzori alongside Bwindi and Murchison Falls.
“In FY2026/27, focus will remain on infrastructure development in tourism sites, upgrading hospitality standards, training and promoting health tourism through specialised health facilities. Highway refreshment and sanitation centres will be constructed in partnership with private sector. Tourism product diversification, profiling of regional sites, and stronger conservation efforts will be expedited, noted Ggoobi.
The Secretary to Treasury also revealed plans by Government establish a robust institutional coordination to strengthen communication to counter negative publicity, that Government thinks is impacting on Uganda’s tourism potential.
For mineral based industrial development, Government will prioritize completion of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline to deliver first oil, completing mineral quantification for iron, ore, gold and cooper
In the Science, Technology and Innovation programme, the Ministry of Finance revealed that the overreaching goal is to build a knowledge economy that drives productivity and efficiency and, in this regard, FY 2026/27 will focus on commercialisation of innovations by taking to the market products of Kira motors, Dei Bio Pharma.
Under the Human Capital Development programme, Government highlighted plans by Government to maintain free UPE, USE and UPOLET, continue sponsorships and student loans and complete rehabilitation of traditional secondary and special needs schools. Construction of new seed schools, expansion of existing facilities, recruitment of staff.
The Ministry also revealed that in 2026/27, Busoga and Bunyoro universities will be operationalised while stadia and training facilities for CHAN and AFCON27 will be put to use.
