Kampala — On July 25, President Yoweri Museveni met with a team from Standard Chartered Bank's Export Finance division at State House, Entebbe, to explore potential funding for various projects in Uganda, including those in the extractive sector, which have faced negative publicity due to environmental concerns.
Uganda aims to commence oil production by 2025, but the absence of essential infrastructure, including a refinery ($3-$4 billion) and the East African Crude Oil Pipeline ($3.5-$4 billion), raises doubts about meeting this target.
President Museveni urged the bank to increase support for local scientists and to show interest in projects such as the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), the UMEME buyout, and solar-powered irrigation. He emphasized the importance of wealth creation, highlighting four key sectors: commercial agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure, and resource management.
"The raw materials, the energy, as well as some of the infrastructure, are already there, but what is not there adequately is the manufacturing. The dedicated Ugandans are there, but they don't have capital," he noted.
Sanjay Rughani, Managing Director and CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Uganda, acknowledged the bank's historic role in Uganda's development.
He stated that the lender has contributed 3 percent of Uganda's GDP through lending, value addition, and supporting projects. Rughani revealed that the bank is currently involved in projects worth USD 1.3 billion and has expressed interest in financing additional projects, including the SGR and the UMEME buyout, totaling USD 4 billion.
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Faruq Muhammad, Managing Director and Global Head of Structured Export Finance at Standard Chartered Bank, praised Uganda as a favorable market.
"Uganda is a very good market for us. My first visit to Uganda was when we were financing Warid Telecom (now Airtel), which had just received an operational license. As an international institution, we have a lot of tools and products, and we appreciate the opportunity to use them as a joint benefit for the government and us partners," Muhammad stated. He mentioned ongoing projects like transmission lines, the Kidepo Road Project, and oil roads.
Maria Kiwanuka, Board Chairperson of Standard Chartered Bank Uganda and former finance minister, emphasized the bank's role in economic development.
"There are quite a number of projects that we have executed here in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development. We have worked very well with the government of Uganda in several areas, especially infrastructure development," she said. Kiwanuka also noted the bank's significant lending to manufacturers, totaling Shs 400 billion over the years.
