Musaazi NAMITI
Ninety-eight percent of Uganda’s bank accounts hold balances of $2,600 (shs9.37m) or less, a US State Department report says, citing the Deposit Protection Fund.
The report does not show how much money is held in accounts with balances below $2,600.
Titled the 2026 Uganda Investment Climate Statement, the report, published in September, says there are a total of 31.5 million bank accounts and that only about 36% of Ugandans have a bank account.
The Fund did not respond to questions about whether these figures were based on individual account holders or bank accounts.
The government established the Fund in 1994, but it was operationalised as a separate legal entity in 2017 to ensure depositors do not lose their money when a bank is liquidated. A depositor is protected up to shs10m per bank.
Payment of deposit amounts in excess of the protected limit is handled by the Bank of Uganda when the bank’s assets are sold off to repay creditors.
The report also highlights mobile money growth, noting it has broadened financial inclusion. Transactions in 2025 totalled about $88bn (shs316.8tn).
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“Uganda’s banking and financial sector is generally healthy, though non-performing loans remain a problem,” the report says.
Citing the Bank of Uganda’s Financial Soundness Indicators, the report says non-performing loan rate stood at 3.21% in 2025, down from 3.98% in 2024.
According to the report, Uganda has 21 commercial banks with the top six controlling at least 63% of banking sector assets. Total banking sector assets were approximately $10.5bn (shs37.8tn) at the end of 2025.
The report also notes that the Uganda Petroleum Fund (PF), which the government established to receive and manage all government revenues from the oil and gas sector, had a balance of $36m (shs129.7bn) as of June 2025.
“As of June 2025, the PF had a balance of $36m, held primarily in current accounts, mostly from taxes and signature bonuses from non-oil production related activities in the oil sector,” it says.
While the report notes that the economy offers numerous opportunities for investors, the biggest challenges to investment include aggressive pursuit of law-abiding private sector firms to meet revenue collection targets, low public investment in the health and education sectors, shortages of skilled labor, corruption, weak rule of law and human rights violations.
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