The Ugandan finance office says the country will cut spending and borrow less in 2025/26

The Ugandan government wants to cut spending by just over a fifth and borrow less money from within the country by just over a half in the fiscal year 2025/26 (July–June). This was announced by the official finance minister on Friday.

Ratings agencies Fitch and Moody’s cut Uganda’s credit rating because of its growing state debt, which has caused politicians in the opposition to be worried.

The government says that the economy has grown faster than many other African countries since the COVID-19 pandemic because of loans.

A draft budget paper from the ministry showed that the government plans to spend 57.4 trillion Ugandan shillings ($15.56 billion) this fiscal year, down from 72.1 trillion shillings planned for this year.

It said that during the same time period, the government plans to borrow 5.39 billion shillings ($1.09 billion) from the domestic market through Treasury bonds. This is 53.9% less than what it borrowed in 2024/25.

No reason was given by the minister for the drop in borrowing or spending.

The general secretary of the Finance Ministry, Ramathan Ggoobi, said that the government would put most of its money into afro-industrialization, tourism, and minerals, such as oil.

Ggoobi said that the amount of money needed to pay off foreign debt will go up from 3.1 trillion shillings this fiscal year to 4.03 trillion shillings in 2025/26. This will make it harder for people to spend money in their own country.

$1 is equal to 3,689,000 Ugandan shillings.