Finance Minister Henry Musasizi has called for urgent measures to improve the implementation and disbursement of World Bank-funded projects, citing concerns over delays affecting the performance of Uganda's development portfolio.
Musasizi made the remarks during a high-level meeting with Qimiao Fan, the World Bank Division Director for Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia and Uganda, where the two sides discussed development priorities, implementation challenges and ways to strengthen cooperation between Uganda and the global lender.
"We deeply appreciate the World Bank's continued partnership and commitment to Uganda's socio-economic transformation," Musasizi said.
The Minister noted that the longstanding partnership between Uganda and the World Bank has supported major investments in key sectors, including transport, agriculture, energy, education, health, water and sanitation, social protection, governance and institutional development.
He said the World Bank-supported project portfolio in Uganda has expanded to $4.72 billion, but expressed concern over the current disbursement rate of 32 percent, which he attributed to implementation challenges affecting both government and the Bank.
Musasizi said both parties must work together to address bottlenecks and improve project execution to ensure that investments deliver maximum impact.
He emphasized the need for all World Bank-supported programmes to align with the government's Agenda for Transformation, Modernisation and Socio-economic Transformation (ATMS) priorities and development enablers.
The Minister also commended the World Bank team for concluding the Country Partnership Framework (CPF), describing it as an important roadmap that will guide future cooperation between Uganda and the institution.
He said the framework aligns with Uganda's priorities, including strengthening domestic revenue mobilisation, investing in productive infrastructure, promoting value addition and increasing export growth.
Qimiao Fan, who was accompanied by World Bank Country Manager Fransisca Ayodeji Akala and other senior officials, congratulated Musasizi on his appointment as Finance Minister and welcomed his development vision.
Fan said the Country Partnership Framework is aligned with Uganda's ambition to achieve tenfold economic growth.
On the issue of low disbursement rates, Fan identified delays in procurement processes, land acquisition and compensation of project-affected persons as some of the major challenges affecting implementation.
He said addressing these bottlenecks would be critical in accelerating project delivery and improving the utilisation of development financing.
The meeting reaffirmed Uganda's commitment to maximising the impact of international development support by strengthening coordination, removing implementation barriers and ensuring that funded projects contribute effectively to national development objectives.
