Uganda is negotiating a fresh round of funding with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after its previous program lapsed last year, the country’s finance ministry has confirmed.
The East African nation’s earlier Extended Credit Facility (ECF), launched in 2021 and valued at about $1 billion, expired in 2024 after disbursing only $870 million.
“Uganda is currently negotiating a new Extended Credit Facility Program with the IMF,” said Ramathan Ggoobi, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance and Secretary to the Treasury. He spoke during a meeting with ambassadors, according to a ministry statement posted on X.
The new arrangement, Ggoobi added, “is expected to be presented to the IMF Board after the general elections early next year 2026.”
Uganda is scheduled to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in January or February, though the exact date is yet to be confirmed by the national electoral body.
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Uganda is pushing for the deal as it seeks fresh sources of concessional funding to contain its mounting public debt burden.
The country’s total public debt rose by 17.8 percent in 2024 to $29.1 billion. As a share of GDP, debt increased to 52.1 percent at the end of 2024, up from 49.9 percent the previous year, according to the finance ministry.
When announcing the expiration of the last program in September 2024, the IMF noted that it had lapsed against the backdrop of program implementation challenges compounded by external funding constraints.
