KAMPALA (Reuters) -The World Bank will give Uganda over $2 billion in new financing in the next three financial years to fund economic development, a top ministry of finance official said on Tuesday.
The global lender resumed loans to the east African country, a prospective crude oil producer, in June after a near two-year suspension of fresh funding over a tough anti-LGBTQ law that carries the death penalty for some same-sex offences.
“I am glad to announce that concessional financing is back. In the next three financial years the World Bank will disburse over $2 billion of new money to finance our development,” Ramathan Ggoobi, ministry of finance permanent secretary who also doubles as secretary to Treasury said in a statement sent out to media.
He said the money would be used to finance projects in transportation, energy, ICT, agriculture and other sectors.
The World Bank did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lender has traditionally been Uganda’s largest source of cheap credit alongside China and suspension of loans had forced the government to resort to domestic markets for costlier credit, according to finance ministry data.
Uganda is also currently negotiating with the IMF for a new Extended Credit Facility (ECF) program after the previous one, worth about $1 billion lapsed last year before all the funds were disbursed.
Crude oil production, expected to begin around mid-2026, will help push growth into double digits in the 2026/27 (July-June) fiscal year, the finance ministry said last month.
(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Kim Coghill)
