Uganda announced on Thursday that it anticipates its enormous public debt to begin a “declining trend,” aided by the nation’s expected start of oil production in 2025 and its anticipated 7 percent economic growth.
The central bank and others have also raised concerns about the nation’s rising public debt load and rising debt-servicing costs. The country’s ministry of finance has already stated that it is concerned about these issues.
The ministry announced it would refrain from external borrowing in the upcoming fiscal year, which begins in July, to deal with its debt issues.
Ramathan Ggoobi, the top Treasury officer in the Ugandan finance ministry, stated in a statement released by the Media Centre, the government’s press office, “We expect public debt as a proportion of GDP to be on a downward trend, on the back of healthy economic development.”
“The oil and gas industry will be a major driver of economic growth in the medium term. As commercial oil production begins, we project that real GDP growth will rise to around 7%.”
The central bank estimates that as of October, the nation’s total public debt was over $21 billion, or a little under 50% of GDP.