The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A group of youth have asked the government to pay attention to its increasing debt burden.
The youth spoke to URN on Monday just as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) board was approving another $1billion loan under its Extended Credit Facility arrangement. Under the arrangement, Uganda will utilize the money for three years.
Reagan Muyinda, a student at Kyambogo University said if approved, this will be among the country’s first loans in the new financial year which is coming at the time when the country is almost hitting the 50% threshold debt to GDP ratio.
Currently, Uganda’s debt to GDP ratio stands at 49.1% and in terms of debt amounts, the country had hit Shs65.8trillion by December from about Shs49trillion in 2019.
This has alarmed several sections of the public and Muyinda says that all Ugandans need to speak out considering that everyone will have to pay.
Alex Ssemambo, a law student at Makerere University wonders how the country and who will pay for the debt.
He says while borrowing could be unavoidable for some projects, he says it’s painful that some of the funds borrowed cannot be well accounted for citing COVID-19 related borrowing that has driven the national debt at 35% just in the last year.
He lists some of the COVID-19 related loans that are already extended to the country like the $491.5m approved by IMF in May last year to help the country overcome its economic difficulties, $300m from the World Bank and 125million euros from the European Union to boost the private sector among others.
The University students who started an online campaign on Monday urged other colleagues across the country to rise and say no to the increasing debt.
Robert Musana, a programmes officer at Youth Line Forum, a youth advocacy organization says that they have had interaction with youth who are concerned about the debt burden but couldn’t reach out from their homes because of the lockdown.
This campaign he says has also extended to Kenya where university students there to are in protest as the huge debt has become a regional problem.
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