UDB receives sh85b, commits to scale up socio-economic interventions

During the budget reading last week, the Minister for Finance, Planning, and Economic Development, Matia Kasaija, announced that UDB had been given sh85 billion to help the economy in general by supporting medium-sized and large–sized businesses in the coming fiscal year.

With the additional funding for the Financial Year 2023–24, the government's overall UDB capitalisation, which is now at sh1.22 trillion, would increase.

"Uganda is showing better and better performance on a number of macroeconomic measures, indicating that the country is on a sustained recovery trajectory. "These economic advantages necessitate that we scale up our interventions that aim to foster a robust and sustainable private sector," remarked UDB's Managing Director, Patricia Ojangole.

She added, "UDB is the country's national development finance organisation with the duty to catalyse Uganda's socio-economic development. The purpose statement of the bank, "To improve the quality of life of Ugandans," which is supported by the bank's three High Impact Goals in particular, will also serve as a guide for UDB's interventions in order to boost growth prospects for the upcoming fiscal year.”

The Bank received sh103 billion from the 2022–23 budget, which, when cushioned with funds from funding partners, enabled exponential support to private enterprises. As a result, the gross loan portfolio saw a 52% increase, rising from Shs851 billion in December 2021 to sh1,298 billion by December 2022. The sh776.6 billion in payouts in 2022 were the cause of this development. A post-tax profit of sh45 billion (unaudited) was also reported by the Bank, exceeding sh38.83 billion in 2021.

"As of today, the Bank's total assets stand at sh1.58 trillion, up 19% from the start of 2022. The Bank's ability to extend credit is made possible by increasing funding, principally from capital allocations from the Government and the use of credit lines from our funding partners, which is largely responsible for this expansion. As of April 2023, the Bank's gross loan portfolio was at sh1.384 trillion,” Ojangole said.

Compared to the sh2.4 billion realised in 2021, the 2022 investments generated an output value of sh3.3 billion.

Ojangole commended the government for giving the bank steadfast support.

According to Ojangole, "Our continuous expansion is due to growth in funding, primarily through capital contributions from the government and the drawdown of lines of credit from numerous other finance partners.”