Bank of Uganda Governor Dr Michael Atingi-Ego has urged policymakers and financiers to pivot decisively toward long-term domestic financing, arguing that Uganda’s bid to grow its economy tenfold will stall without patient capital flowing into productive sectors. Speaking at the Uganda Economic Forum in Kampala, he said mobilising longer-tenor funds through stronger public private collaboration would accelerate Agro-industrialisation, raise productivity, and lift exports at scale. He noted that with the right financing mix, agro-industry alone could add tens of billions of dollars to annual output, anchoring the country’s transformation over the next 15 years.
Delegates at the forum zeroed in on Agro-industrialisation as the practical engine of growth, highlighting value-addition, quality inputs, and reliable market linkages as immediate priorities. Participants also pointed to persistent constraints such as the size of the informal sector and gaps in affordable, longer-dated credit that keep many firms trapped in short investment cycles. According to Atingi-Ego, unlocking term finance will require a broader toolkit: improving risk-sharing mechanisms, deepening local savings and pensions pools, and crowding-in private capital alongside targeted public investment.
The central bank chief said macroeconomic conditions provide a constructive backdrop, with inflation contained and the shilling relatively stable in recent months conditions he argued are necessary to sustain investment confidence. He also flagged the expected start of oil exports within the financial year as a potential boost to external revenues, provided Uganda continues to channel resources into sectors that expand productive capacity rather than consumption.
The forum’s message dovetails with government’s Tenfold Growth Strategy, which sets out an ambition to lift GDP roughly to the US$500 billion mark by 2040. That plan stresses the need to raise the national savings rate toward 30% of GDP and to maintain policy predictability so private investors can commit capital for longer horizons. The cumulative build-out of infrastructure power generation, roads, ICT backbone and water systems was cited as a platform to crowd in private investment and move more firms into higher-productivity, export-oriented activities.
While optimism ran high, panellists acknowledged execution risks: preference for short-term lending; shallow pipelines of bankable projects; and the need for reliable data, standards and extension services to bring more smallholders and SMEs into formal value chains. Forum contributors called for practical steps quality-assured inputs, credit guarantees, and disciplined project preparation to ensure that once capital is mobilised, it can be absorbed efficiently and translate into jobs, exports and tax revenues at scale.
Bottom line: Uganda’s tenfold growth ambition will be decided in the tenor of its money. If the country can mobilise and deploy long-term domestic financing into competitive, value-adding sectors especially agro-industry, it can turn macro stability into sustained, broad-based growth.