DTB Uganda Calls for Deeper Financial Markets to Drive Tenfold Growth

Uganda’s ambition to build a $500 billion economy by 2040 will require more than continued GDP growth, Diamond Trust Bank Uganda’s treasury chief said at an ACI Dealers Meeting in Kampala.

Parminder Singh said the country needs financial markets that can mobilize capital, support investment and allocate resources efficiently. He described those markets as the infrastructure that turns savings into investment, liquidity into capital and economic opportunities into reality.

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Financial markets are not simply a mechanism for trading currencies, government securities or other financial instruments. They are the infrastructure through which savings become investment, liquidity becomes capital and economic opportunities become reality.

Uganda’s nominal GDP has grown from about $40 billion to approximately $62 billion over the past five years, Singh said. Maintaining the same trajectory, however, would leave the country far below the $500 billion goal. He called for transparent, innovative markets that are increasingly connected to global markets, as well as stronger cooperation among regulators, banks, dealers, investors and private companies.

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Achieving a US$500 billion economy is no mean achievement. We need strong leadership, ambitious development programmes and financial markets capable of supporting the scale of investment required.

Bank of Uganda Deputy Governor Augustus Nuwagaba said financial markets must convert savings into investment, investment into enterprise, enterprise into productivity and productivity into employment. He also called for greater value addition in agriculture and minerals so Uganda can capture more of the value generated from its productive assets.

Nuwagaba cited the global coffee value chain, estimated at about $236 billion, as an example of the scale of value that Uganda could seek to capture. The provided account ends while describing Uganda’s position in that chain.

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The Tenfold Growth strategy requires us to convert savings into investment, investment into enterprise, enterprise into productivity, and productivity into employment. This is how growth can ultimately put more money in people’s pockets.