Take a shop owner in Owino. Four times a month she withdraws Shs500,000 from her wallet to pay suppliers who only accept cash. Each withdrawal costs her a Shs7,000 agent fee, Shs2,500 in excise duty on the amount, and another…
Uganda wants Italian investors to move beyond buying its coffee, milk and minerals to processing them locally, transferring technology and manufacturing finished products for regional and international markets. The Uganda–Italy Business and Investment Forum in Rome has opened discussions around…
The Bank of Uganda did not wait for its next scheduled meeting. At a special Monetary Policy Committee sitting on Wednesday, the central bank raised the Central Bank Rate (CBR) by 225 basis points, from 9.75% to 12%. The benchmark…
Picture race week in Bugesera, sometime around 2030. Every team has flown in with its crew, its cars and tonnes of freight. Thousands of fans are landing at a brand-new airport. Every one of them needs a bed, a ride,…
When fuel prices fall, will the cost of living follow? For Ugandan households, the answer matters far beyond the petrol station. Fuel affects the cost of transporting food, moving goods, operating businesses and getting to work. When prices rise, the…
Uganda’s Treasury market is offering investors less income on new securities than it did a few months ago, even as demand for government debt remains strong. In August, the yield on the 364-day Treasury bill fell to 11% from 11.5%…
A litre of petrol can cost markedly different amounts on either side of an East African border, even though all three countries depend heavily on imported fuel. In late September, a litre of petrol in Uganda was trading at about…
Uganda plans to raise about Shs12.7 trillion in net domestic financing in FY2026 For businesses, the important question is what that borrowing will do to the cost and availability of credit. The Bank of Uganda says the domestic financial market…
For a business, the most important question about Uganda’s September–December 2026 rainfall season is not simply how much rain will fall. It is what happens to the business if a key road becomes impassable, a supplier cannot deliver, stock is…
Uganda’s growing digital economy depends on more than smartphones, apps and online payments. Every day, motorcycle riders move meals, goods and orders from restaurants, shops and businesses to customers, making them an essential link between the digital and physical economies.…
Uganda’s external position is improving, but the shilling is telling a more complicated story. In the 12 months to June 2026, Uganda recorded a US$2.39 billion balance-of-payments surplus, more than double the US$1.03 billion recorded a year earlier. International reserves…
Uganda’s shilling has come under renewed pressure in September, with the currency moving towards the Shs4,000-per-dollar mark as businesses increase their demand for foreign currency amid higher energy costs, import requirements and uncertainty in global markets. On September 17, commercial…
Uganda has moved closer to one of its most ambitious economic targets. The economy, according to Trade and Industry Minister Sanjay Tanna, has grown from roughly $50 billion when the government set out its $500 billion ambition to about $69…
Africa is moving rapidly into the artificial intelligence era. Governments are developing AI strategies, companies are experimenting with generative AI and Agentic AI, universities are expanding AI training, and investors are beginning to look at AI as the next major…
For more than a century, Pan-Africanism gave Africa a powerful political idea: that the continent was stronger when Africans stood together. From the anti-colonial struggle to the creation of the Organisation of African Unity and later the African Union, the…