Uganda’s external debt now at $3.9b
KAMPALA - Uganda’s external debt has risen by $300m in the past two years to $3.9b, finance minister Gerald Ssendaula said yesterday. 

“As a result of this, the cost of servicing the debt annually has risen from $63.6m to $77m,” Ssendaula told AFP by telephone. 

The rise comes despite debt relief of $95.8m extended to Uganda under the World Bank’s debt relief initiative. 

Uganda’s foreign debt had stagnated at $3.6b for several years before jumping to the current level. 

Officials fear that the trend in the country’s debt-standing threatened efforts to reduce poverty, which was recently said to be on the rise again. 

The number of Ugandans living on less than a dollar a day has risen from seven million in 2000 to the current nine million, the ministry’s economic affairs director Keith Muhakanizi said. 

“The bulk of the debt stock, approximately 3.46 billion dollars, is owed to the multilateral creditors, mainly the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and African Development Bank/Fund (AFDB),” Ssendaula said. 

A finance ministry official said new support credits from the World Bank, IMF and AFDB for poverty reduction and other programmes, plus debt arrears interest have worsened the country’s debt portfolio. 

The depreciation of the Ugandan shilling against major currencies, especially the US dollar, is also blamed for the slump. 

The Ugandan shilling has of late depreciated against the US dollar, selling at a rate of nearly sh2,000 to the dollar against sh1,800 six months ago. 

The country’s economy has grown at an average of five percent in the last three years. 
Ends
Published on: Tuesday, 11th November, 2003
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