Finance Minister urges capital markets to fund $500bn economy target

What the report says

Uganda’s Finance Minister Henry Musasizi has called on the country’s capital markets to play a bigger role in financing the government’s long-term economic ambitions, including a target of becoming a $500 billion economy by 2040. Speaking at the Uganda Media Centre during the launch of the Capital Markets Authority’s 30th-anniversary celebrations, he said the scale of investment required would be too large to depend only on government spending or bank lending.

According to Nile Post, Musasizi said the Tenfold Growth Strategy would need substantial funding for infrastructure, industrialisation, commercial agriculture, tourism, energy, housing, technology and manufacturing. He also encouraged Ugandans to consider investment products beyond traditional savings, while stressing the importance of investor protection, disclosure, market oversight, enforcement and corporate governance.

The Capital Markets Authority said Uganda’s market has expanded over the past three decades. Its chief executive officer, Josephine Okui Ossiya, said the regulator met or exceeded many of its strategic targets in the first year of its five-year plan and reported stronger participation in investment schemes and the securities market. The authority now oversees more than 160 licensed market participants.

Dr Japheth Katto, the CMA’s founding chief executive, said one of the sector’s major achievements has been proving that a functioning capital-market ecosystem can operate in Uganda. The remarks highlight the government’s effort to tap domestic and foreign investment for development financing, a common approach in emerging markets seeking to broaden sources of capital.