Musaazi NAMITI

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The Bank of Uganda has responded to a fact-check published by OJ-UGANDA, saying the shs3.4tn figure its economist said was the national budget for 2026–27 is the amount the government is planning to borrow.

Ishta Atukunda, BoU’s media team lead, said in an email on Friday: “The figure you quote was a reference to how much [the] government plans to borrow through government securities this financial year, and not the total fiscal budget.”

She added: “I have reviewed the short clip you based on, and while it is understandable where the misunderstanding could have come from, without watching her whole presentation, the article you posted could come across as misleading.”

BoU did not respond to OJ-UGANDA’s request to identify the specific budget document containing the figure cited by economist Pumla Nabachwa. Instead, it sent us the National Budget Framework Paper FY2025/26–FY2029/30 (pdf). That document shows that shs3.4tn is allocated to the Parish Development Model, not borrowing.

The national budget has put domestic borrowing at shs11.97tn and external borrowing for general budget financing at shs1.22tn. Nowhere in the approved national budget is shs3.4tn identified as the amount the government plans to borrow.

OJ-UGANDA’s fact-check rated Ms Nabachwa’s claim false because the approved budget for 2026/27 is shs84.39tn.

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Ms Nabachwa appeared in a video explaining how treasury bills and bonds work, saying the government uses them to borrow money from the public.

“They read the budget earlier this month. So, the budget is so much, so I think it’s 3.4 trillion or something,” she says in the video.

The video was posted online by REALity TV Uganda and has been shared more than 400 times. At the time of publication, OJ-UGANDA found no comments among more than 240 posted beneath the video questioning the accuracy of the claim.

In the video, Ms Nabachwa clearly anchored her explanation to the national budget.

“Are we still in June?… They read the budget earlier this month,” she says.

Her comments form a natural continuation of the discussion, and the video has no verbal cue that she has shifted from talking about the national budget to talking about domestic borrowing through government securities.

BoU’s response to OJ-UGANDA did not address Ms Nabachwa’s reference to June, which is significant since the national budget is read in that month.

BoU’s governor Michael Atingi-Ego reacted to OJ-UGANDA’s fact-check on LinkedIn by liking it but did not comment.

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