Uganda May Need Over 12 Years to Pay Off Domestic Debt, Report Warns

A new report from the Finance Committee in Parliament has raised concern over Uganda's growing domestic debt. According to the report, the government owes more than Shs13.8 trillion in unpaid local bills and could take more than 12 years to clear them if things don’t change.

This report was presented by Hon. Moses Aleper, the Deputy Chairperson of the Committee on Finance, Planning, and Economic Development. It referred to findings from the Auditor General, which showed that domestic arrears have grown from Shs10.5 trillion in the last financial year (2022/2023) to over Shs13.8 trillion now.

For the upcoming 2025/2026 financial year, the government has planned to spend Shs1.1 trillion to reduce these arrears. This is more than what was allocated last year, which was just Shs200 billion.

Even with this increase, the committee warned that if the government continues at this pace—and doesn’t add more debt—it would still take over a decade to clear all arrears.

The committee advised Finance Minister Henry Musasizi to come up with a strong plan to solve this issue in the short and long term. They said if this is not done, the private sector will continue to suffer, and it will slow down the country’s economy.

Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa welcomed the extra funds being set aside to reduce the debt but added that more serious efforts are still needed.