Bank of Uganda Challenges Banks to Turn Uganda’s $500 Billion Growth Ambition Into Action

Bank of Uganda Governor Michael Atingi-Ego has challenged Uganda’s financial institutions to move beyond commitments and develop concrete financing plans that can support the country’s ambition to grow its economy tenfold by 2040.

Speaking at the 9th Annual Bankers’ Conference organised by the Uganda Bankers’ Association in Kampala, Atingi-Ego said Uganda’s financial sector has a central role to play in mobilising the capital required to grow the economy from about $50 billion to $500 billion.

He said the country has already established an important foundation for long-term growth, pointing to macroeconomic stability and improved performance in the financial sector.

According to Atingi-Ego, real GDP growth reached 6.4 percent in the 2025/26 financial year, while headline and core inflation averaged 3.3 percent over the 12 months to July 2026. Private sector credit also grew by 16.1 percent in the year to June, while non-performing loans declined to 2.67 percent.

“These are good numbers,” he said, but cautioned that they should be viewed as the beginning of the work rather than the end.

Atingi-Ego identified agro-industrialisation, tourism, minerals including oil and gas, and science, technology and innovation as major areas where the financial sector can support economic transformation.

He said financing these sectors will require banks to move beyond conventional lending models. Businesses in technology and innovation, for example, may require cash-flow lending, venture debt and intellectual-property finance rather than traditional collateral-based loans.

The Governor also stressed the importance of savings mobilisation and deeper capital markets, saying banks cannot finance the entire transformation alone.

“Pension funds, insurers, development finance institutions and capital markets must stand beside you as complementary pillars of one financial ecosystem,” he said.

The Uganda Bankers’ Association has committed to extending about Shs490 trillion in private-sector credit by 2040 in support of the tenfold growth strategy.

However, Atingi-Ego said the target must be backed by credible plans for mobilising deposits, securing long-term funding and strengthening bank capital.

He said banks are expected to submit Board-approved strategies with measurable targets as part of their 2026/27 work plans.

The plans, he said, should demonstrate how institutions intend to grow both sides of their balance sheets rather than focusing only on lending targets.

“For our farmers, factories, hotels, mines and innovators, they are waiting for the capital that only this room can mobilise,” Atingi-Ego said.

He also assured financial institutions that the central bank would continue supporting responsible innovation while maintaining prudential standards.

Bank of Uganda plans to strengthen areas such as credit information, collateral registries and sector-specific data while supporting digital financial services, agent banking and responsible product innovation.

Atingi-Ego said the focus now should be on execution.

“The strategy is written. The economy is stable. The sector is sound. What remains is execution: board by board, balance sheet by balance sheet, key result area by key result area,” he said.