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Kampala, Uganda | Julius Businge | Financial Sector Deepening Uganda (FSDU) has welcomed £15million (approx.Shs72bn at current exchange rate) commitment from UK aid to initiate new phase of financial sector development, a notice shared by Rashmi Pillai on Jan.23 reads in part.
Pillai is the executive director for FSD –Uganda.
The amount in question is part of a GBP320 million package that will initiate an ambitious new phase of financial sector development across Africa.
Announced at the UK-Africa Investment Summit in London, the package includes additional funding for nine existing Financial Sector Deepening Programmes [FSDs] in countries including Uganda, and to set up and scale new FSDs in high-priority markets.
“The support will enable FSD Uganda to continue its efforts to deepen financial inclusion in the country and link early successes to the real economy by investing in and addressing the financial services needs of key sectors including agriculture and agro-processing, trade, climate change, education and affordable housing,” Pillai says.
She did not say when spending of the money will start and end.
An accompanying statement says that the new commitment, announced by Secretary of State Alok Sharma, represents the start of an important new approach to financial sector development in sub-Saharan Africa. It adds that the package from UK Aid recognises that a comprehensive, integrated approach to financial market development in Africa is required to realise the continent’s potential and help meet the United Nation’s global goals.
“The £320m commitment provides funding for ambitious programmes that create financing solutions for the opportunities and challenges faced across Africa’s economies, from individual households and micro-enterprises to business and infrastructure investment. This means addressing the entire system of finance from savings groups to capital market development, and operating more closely to the interface between finance and the real world,” the statement reads in part.
