Uganda’s total public debt for the 2023/2024 financial year stood at Shs 54 trillion, implying that, on average, each living Ugandan is indebted to the donors to the tune of Shs 1.1 million.
The figure also reveals a strong appetite for borrowing by the government. Broken down, at Shs 54 trillion, it means the government borrowed at least Shs 145 billion per day in 2023/24.
This damning statistic is contained in the recently released Auditor General report for the year ending December 2024.
According to the report, the country’s public debt shot up from Shs 53 trillion in 2022/23 to Shs 54 trillion in 2023/24, roughly by Shs 1 trillion.
Most of the borrowed money, the report noted, was sourced from multi-lateral creditors like the World Bank and IMF. These institutions lent the country Shs 35 trillion in 2023/24.
Government borrowing from commercial banks, on the other hand, declined from Shs 7.1 trillion in 2022/23 to Shs 6.4 trillion in 2023/24.
The new auditor general, Edward Akol, cautioned that “the continued increase in external debt could, in the long run, strain Uganda’s fiscal sustainability and limit resources available for domestic spending.”
Our debt to GDP ratio currently stands at 51%, a figure economists warn is unsustainable.
It is 84 trillions as of now. Check your source properly otherwise we are doomed.