Museveni seeks Standard Chartered Bank’s support for Uganda’s infrastructure ambitions

President Yoweri Museveni has urged Standard Chartered Bank to increase its support for infrastructure development and wealth creation in Uganda, as the country aims to achieve a USD 500 billion economy.

During a meeting with a delegation from Standard Chartered Bank Uganda and the UK at State House, Entebbe, President Museveni emphasized the need for balanced development, saying, “If you make a road or Standard Gauge Railway but do not have enough to transport, then you will still have problems and you can even be overtaken by social issues like unemployment. So there should be a step on the infrastructure side but also a step on the wealth creation side.”

He identified key projects that require investment, including the Umeme buy-out, Standard Gauge Railway, and irrigation systems, and encouraged the bank to bring in more foreign investors to support these initiatives.

“The raw materials, the energy as well as some of the infrastructures are already there but what is not there adequately is the manufacturing and the dedicated Ugandans are there but they don’t have capital,” President Museveni said.

He also highlighted Uganda’s natural resources and the importance of understanding the role of the private sector in driving economic growth. “There’s no chance that we have ever made any of those mistakes; we are very sure of what we are doing, and we are lucky that we are part of this very powerful part of the world; Africa where the problem has only been leadership both in the past with our kings, during colonialism and post-independence. Our economy cannot do badly because we have got a lot of natural resources. We philosophically resolved the issue of understanding the role of the private sector because part of the problem in Africa is that they don’t understand the role of the private sector. This is a philosophical mistake.”

Standard Chartered Bank’s Managing Director and Global Head of Structured Export Finance, Mr. Faruq Muhammad, expressed the bank’s commitment to supporting Uganda’s development agenda, saying, “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 licence. 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.”

He added, “Now we are looking at some key projects like the transmission lines, Kidepo Road Projects and some of the oil roads.”

Ms. Maria Kiwanuka, Board Chairperson of Standard Chartered Bank Uganda, emphasized the bank’s long-standing partnership with the government, saying, “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 the infrastructure development.”

Mr. Sanjay Rughani, Managing Director/CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Uganda, noted the bank’s contributions to Uganda’s GDP through lending, value addition, and supporting projects. “For all these years, we have always wished good for Uganda and we have always supported the nation’s development agenda,” he said.

He added, “We are currently working on projects worth USD 1.3 billion. In recent times, we have submitted our interest to finance many other projects such as SGR, Umeme buyout, among others, all worth USD4 billion of investment. We not only do project financing here, but we also engage in international partnerships that are very crucial for Uganda. This can only happen when we have an enabling environment which has been achieved under your leadership. Manufacturing is also very key, that is why we have lent Shs400bn to manufacturers.”

Mr. Sanjay also congratulated President Museveni on his visionary leadership.