Skip to content
Uganda in Data
Topics
People & Society
Economy
Production
Environment
Wellbeing
Places
Uganda and the worldChartsPlay & learnAll UBOS files

    Public money · UBOS government finance statistics

    Where does government money go?

    Government spent UGX 38.3 trillion in 2023/24 and collected UGX 34.2 trillion, leaving a gap of UGX 4.1 trillion. That is about UGX 834,000 of spending for every Ugandan.

    Spending, 2023/24

    UGX 38.3 trillion

    central and local government

    Revenue, 2023/24

    UGX 34.2 trillion

    taxes and other income

    Gap

    UGX 4.1 trillion

    spending minus revenue

    Spending per Ugandan

    UGX 834,000

    using the 2024 census population

    Did you know?

    Out of every UGX 100,000 spent, about UGX 39,500 went on running government, including interest on public debt.

    Out of every UGX 100,000 the government spent in 2023/24

    Shillings, by purpose

    Who spends it?

    Share of spending, 2023/24

    Where the money comes from

    Revenue, UGX trillion, 2023/24

    What changed since 2022/23?

    Change in spending, UGX billion

    More people registering to pay tax

    Tax identification numbers (TINs) issued to individuals

    Ten years of government finances

    • Interest on government debt rose from UGX 0.9 trillion in 2012/13 to UGX 5.0 trillion in 2021/22, 5.6 times as much.
    • By 2021/22 central government spent more on interest (UGX 5.0 trillion) than on paying all its employees (UGX 3.8 trillion).
    • Central government borrowed UGX 11.1 trillion in 2021/22 to cover the gap between what it collected and what it spent, up from UGX 1.8 trillion in 2012/13.
    • Income & profit taxes brought in the most tax in 2021/22: UGX 6.5 trillion of UGX 20.7 trillion. Excise duty on fuel alone raised UGX 2.7 trillion.

    Interest now costs more than salaries

    Central government, UGX trillion a year

    • Interest on debt
    • Employee pay
    2012/13
    2021/22

    New debt, from abroad and at home

    Net new debt taken on by central government, UGX trillion (below zero: more repaid than borrowed)

    • From abroad
    • At home
    2012/13
    2021/22

    What government collects and spends

    Central government, UGX trillion a year

    • Revenue (taxes and grants)
    • Spending and investment
    2012/13
    2021/22

    Where taxes come from

    Central government tax revenue by type, UGX trillion

    • Income & profit taxes (incl. PAYE)
    • VAT
    • Excise duties (fuel, drinks, etc.)
    • Import duties
    • Other taxes

    About these numbers

    • Figures are for general government (central and local), in current shillings. Local government figures for the latest year may be revised.
    • “General public services” is the international (COFOG) heading for running government itself, including interest on public debt.
    • Between 2022/23 and 2023/24 most development spending moved from “Defence” to “Public order and safety”, which looks like a change of classification rather than a real shift.
    • In UBOS’s revenue table the 2023/24 local government figure sits one row below its label; we read it from there.
    • The ten-year history is central government only (UBOS Government Finance Statistics, current shillings). The spending-by-purpose charts above also include local governments.
    • Borrowing is net lending/borrowing: revenue minus current spending minus investment in roads, buildings and other assets.
    • The tax breakdown comes from a more detailed UBOS table whose total differs slightly from the summary.
    • In 2015/16 about UGX 0.8 trillion appears as excise duty on “other imports” instead of import duty, which looks like a one-year classification change.

    Where this comes from