Uganda Development Bank reports 33,000 new jobs from approved projects

October 19, 2021 in Finance, Financial Services by Editor

Ojangole said based on the last three quarters, UDBL is on a positive trajectory not only to meet its high impact mission but also continue to operate with profitability.

The Uganda Development Bank Limited (UDBL), has today announced the creation of 33,154 jobs between July and September as a direct result of recent project approvals. UDBL is the country’s national Development Finance Institution and wholly owned by the Uganda Government.

“The pandemic presented the country with an employment dilemma that saw many people losing their jobs with declining labour force participation rates. In line with our mandate to spur economic development in Uganda, a total of 33,154 new direct jobs are expected to be created, a bulk of which (47 pc) are in agriculture and manufacturing,” Patricia Ojangole, the UDB Managing Director said while releasing the interim development impact report for July-September.

Her announcement comes at a time when the country is recovering from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic that drastically slowed Uganda’s economic growth rate for much 2020 and resulted in some sectors like tourism being severely hard hit.

Ojangole said, “Uganda remains a largely agrarian country with over 68 pc of Ugandans engaged in subsistence agriculture. This is the reason the sector remains key in our mandate across the value-chain if we are to sustainably meet our strategic plan in line with the National Development Plan. Five of the agricultural projects approved support reduction of post-harvest losses by improving storage and drying facilities while positively affecting food security by increasing farm production.”

The report highlights a significant impact in revived output value, tax revenues and forex earnings that will in combination facilitate accelerated support towards economic recovery. A total of 51 projects were approved in this period with the majority share of the loans going to agriculture (47 pc), followed by tourism (25 pc); manufacturing (22 pc) while infrastructure and health received four percent and two percent respectively.

UDBL projects UGX1.914 billion worth of output value/turn-over expected to generate UGX 156 billion in tax revenue to the government and corresponding foreign exchange earnings worth UGX 813 billion. “Based on the last three quarters, UDB is on a positive trajectory, not only to meet its high impact mission, but also continue to operate with profitability,” Ojangole said.

The Bank supports projects within the private sector that demonstrate potential to deliver high socio-economic value, in terms of job creation, improved production output, tax contribution and foreign exchange generation, among other outcomes.

These projects fall within the key priority sectors of our economy, and in line with Uganda’s development priorities, the bank’s financing interventions are mainly in Primary Agriculture, Agro-processing, and manufacturing which account for about 80 pc of its investment portfolio. The bank however undertakes specific interventions in other sectors including Tourism, Human Capital Development and Infrastructure including ICT.