Technical Assistance Reports

This report presents the findings and recommendations from an assessment of Uganda’s public sector debt statistics (PSDS) using the IMF’s Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF) for PSDS. The assessment was undertaken in November 2025 as part of an initiative—funded by the Government of Japan—to strengthen the quality of public sector debt data in select African countries. Uganda’s risk of external and overall public debt distress is moderate with limited space to absorb shocks, according to the IMF-World Bank debt sustainability analysis (DSA) of February 2026. According to national debt reports, public debt stood at 50.9 percent of GDP at the of the financial year 2024/25. Just under half of the debt is external, largely on concessional terms, while the remainder is domestic.

The report concludes that, while Uganda’s public debt statistics are broadly accurate and timely, improvements are needed to broaden coverage and strengthen compilation practices. In particular, it recommends expanding the sector and instrument coverage of public sector debt statistics to include domestic arrears/payables and overdrafts, before progressively extending coverage to other liabilities and to debt of extra-budgetary units, local governments, and public corporations. It also calls for stronger compilation and quality assurance procedures, including more standardized, documented, and automated processes, together with more robust revision practices to improve consistency and reliability across publications. In addition, the report recommends aligning debt classification more closely with international standards, particularly by distinguishing external and domestic debt based on creditor residency, correctly recording SDR-related on-lending arrangements, and reviewing promissory notes and similar financing arrangements to ensure all relevant liabilities are captured. Further improvements are also recommended in metadata and time-series dissemination.