By Daniel Mugoya
President Museveni has projected Uganda’s economy to grow to $80 billion in the next financial year, saying the country is entering a faster phase of expansion driven by commercial agriculture, manufacturing, services, ICT and new exports.
Delivering the 2026 State of the Nation Address at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds, Museveni said Uganda’s economy is expected to grow by 6.4 percent this financial year and by 10 percent in the next financial year, before the start of commercial oil production.
He said Uganda’s GDP has risen from $3.9 billion in 1986 to $69.3 billion by the exchange rate method, and $197.1 billion by the purchasing power parity measure.
The President said Uganda had moved from recovery after years of political instability into expansion, diversification, value addition and the knowledge economy.
“Our economy has expanded 17 times in the last 40 years,” Museveni said.
He said Uganda has also crossed into lower middle income status, with GDP per capita rising to $1,278, above the lower middle income threshold of $1,136.
Museveni used the address to return to his “no more sleep” call, first made during his inauguration, but said some people had reduced it to “no sleep.” He said the message means no more corruption, no more idleness, no more diversion from real work, no more overburdening of productive citizens and no more tolerance for leaders who seek office for personal ego.
“All the non-performers must leave leadership. Leadership is not for ego but for the people and the country,” he said.
The President traced Uganda’s economic journey to the early mobilisation efforts of the 1960s, especially in the cattle corridor, where he said communities were encouraged to abandon nomadism and enter commercial agriculture.
He said milk production has risen from 200 million litres per year in 1986 to 5.4 billion litres, saving the country $1.56 billion in imports and earning $285.4 million in export revenue.
Museveni said Nyabushozi alone now delivers 1.15 million litres of milk daily to factories and coolers, with 115 milk coolers in the area. Across the country, he said, Uganda now has 160 milk and milk products factories.
He urged farmers in the cattle corridor to move away from free-range grazing and adopt pasture growing and indoor feeding to raise productivity.
Museveni said government’s wider wealth creation message remains anchored on four sectors: commercial agriculture, manufacturing, services and ICT. He said households with land should be supported through the Parish Development Model, while those without land should benefit from skills-based programmes such as Emyooga.
He said PDM has already reached 3.7 million households, with Shs557 million now available per parish. Government, he said, will continue putting Shs100 million per parish every year in rural areas, plus Shs15 million for leaders, and Shs300 million per ward in towns, also with Shs15 million for leaders.
The President also questioned the use of Emyooga funds, saying Shs760 billion has so far gone into the programme at constituency level.
“Where is that money? How many and which Emyooga associations have benefited from this money?” he asked.
Museveni said Uganda’s poverty levels have declined from 56.4 percent in 1992 to 16.1 percent, while the share of homesteads in the money economy has increased from 9 percent in 1962 to 67 percent.
He also cited improvements in social indicators, saying life expectancy has risen from 43 years to 68 years, while infant mortality has fallen from 122 deaths per 1,000 live births to 36.
On exports, Museveni said Uganda earned $18 billion in the 12 months ending March 2026. He said the country has added 31 new products to its export basket over the last 15 years, including pharmaceuticals, refined gold, steel, ICT products, ceramics, plastics and dairy products.
He said Uganda has become a country of surpluses in several sectors, with coffee rising from 2 million 60-kilogramme bags in 1986 to 9.3 million bags, cement from 4,900 metric tonnes to 7 million metric tonnes, maize from 200,000 tonnes to 5 million tonnes, sugar from 152,000 tonnes to 700,000 tonnes, and fish production reaching 727,000 metric tonnes.
On energy, Museveni said Uganda’s electricity generation has grown from 60 megawatts in 1986 to 2,098 megawatts, with government targeting 50,000 megawatts from hydro, solar, gas, wind, nuclear and geothermal sources.
He said infrastructure remains central to economic transformation, pointing to tarmacked roads linking Uganda’s northern, southern, eastern and western borders, the revival of the metre-gauge railway, the construction of the standard gauge railway, and planned petroleum pipelines with Kenya and Tanzania.
Museveni said moving heavy cargo from roads to railway and petroleum products to pipelines would leave roads for passengers and light cargo.
He also defended the NRM’s record against critics, saying Uganda has not been “wandering in the desert” but has gone through five stages of development: recovery, expansion of the old enclave economy, diversification, value addition and entry into the knowledge economy.
He said Uganda’s next task is to ensure all programmes are properly implemented at household level.
“In the next five years, all the households with land must get the low-interest capital in the form of PDM,” he said.
Museveni also warned against property fragmentation through inheritance, saying families should consider family companies instead of dividing land into uneconomic pieces.
He said government is also pushing irrigation to stabilise agriculture, including micro solar-powered irrigation schemes in districts such as Ngora, Serere, Bukedea, Amolatar, Kwania, Apac, Kasanda, Masaka and Mukono.
