By Wadulo Arnold Mark
The Government of Uganda has significantly bolstered the financial muscle of the Uganda Development Bank (UDB), increasing its authorized share capital from UGX 2 trillion to UGX 5 trillion. The announcement was made by Henry Musasizi, the Minister for Finance, Planning, and Economic Development, during the bank’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the financial year ended July 2025, held at the Ministry’s headquarters.
Minister Musasizi revealed that despite delays caused by the 2026 general elections and government transition, the bank’s performance has been exceptional. To further strengthen the institution, the government has authorized the board to retain UGX 63 billion from its 2025 profit after tax to serve as additional capital.
“Our goal is to have a strong bank. The strength of the bank is measured in the capital base,” Minister Musasizi stated. “We want a strong bank which is able to provide cheap credit to our people… In the medium term we would wish to see a single-digit interest rate meaning below 10%”. Currently, UDB lends at 12%, but the Minister emphasized that as the capital base grows, the government expects interest rates to drop further to support manufacturing, agro-industrialization, tourism, science and innovation.
Patricia Adongo Ojangole, the Managing Director of UDB, highlighted the bank’s operational efficiency and its direct impact on Ugandan livelihoods. She confirmed that the bank’s interventions have led to the creation of thousands of verified opportunities. “69,000 jobs is actual jobs that we went back to check to confirm to evaluate and we can confirm that the jobs are there,” Ojangole noted.
She further explained that the bank’s lending is strictly aligned with the country’s economic realities. “Most of the approvals we do and the disbursements, new loans we give out, are in agriculture, commercial agriculture sectors, manufacturing and industry. And that’s about between 65 to 70% of the entire book,” she said.
Despite the ambitious lending, UDB has maintained high asset quality. Ojangole reported that the bank’s non-performing loan (NPL) ratio remains well within a healthy range under 7%, 6.7%, attributing this to robust collection mechanisms and strong stakeholder confidence.
The bank is also aggressively expanding its reach beyond the capital. New regional offices have been established in Mbale, Gulu, Mbarara, and Arua to ensure that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across the countryside can access development finance.
Minister Musasizi concluded by reaffirming the government’s resolve to support the private sector through UDB. He noted that while the bank has UGX 1.7 trillion currently disbursed to the public, the demand remains high, necessitating the move to explore further external concessional financing windows backed by government guarantees.
