Uganda’s debt grown to Sh96 Trillion –Auditor General

By Francis Lubega

9^th Jan 2024

The Office of the Auditor General has raised alarm over the growing Ugandan public debt which is said to have doubled since the 2018/2019 financial year.

Presenting the end of year audit report for the financial year ended 2022/2023 to the Speaker of Parliament Anita Among, the Assistant Auditor General in charge of Audit, Edward Akol said that Uganda’s debt has grown from 86 trillion shillings to 96 trillion shillings.

Akol said that the domestic borrowing stands at 43 trillion shillings and external debt at 52 trillion shillings.

He says despite the increase in public debt, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has remained constant or even reduced at certain points of the financial year.

The report has attributed the increased public debt to the high Government appetite for borrowing to finance the national budget, support the economy recovery after the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, and also to finance the increased Government expenditure compared to the minimal domestic revenues.

Meanwhile, the report has also revealed that the Government underperformed during the financial year under review where it approved a budget of 48 trillion which was later reviewed upwards to 52 trillion shillings through a supplementary budget.

The Assistant Auditor General in charge of Audit, Edward Akol says that this caused an unbalanced budget of 4.4 trillion shillings which led to the failure to fully fund the revised budget and under-utilization of warrants affecting the implementation of planned activities.

The audit reflects financial auditing of 162 Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government, 59 statutory Corporations and 2,278 Local Governments.