UGANDA · EAST AFRICA · ENERGY
Key Facts
- —The claim Uganda’s Finance Minister Henry Musasizi describes the US bank JPMorgan as interested in supporting Uganda’s energy sector, after talks in Bangkok during the 12 to 18 October 2026 IMF and World Bank annual meetings.
- —What is missing No project, amount, timetable or financing agreement has been named, and no statement from JPMorgan or from Uganda’s Finance Ministry has been found.
- —The debt Uganda’s public debt was US$37.1 billion at the end of June 2026, up from US$32.3 billion a year earlier, and 46.3% of its external debt is owed in US dollars.
- —The power gap Uganda has 2,098 megawatts of installed generating capacity against a long-term target of 52,482 megawatts, and its 2026/27 budget sets aside Shs 2.07 trillion (about US$530 million) for energy.
- —The oil First oil from the Tilenga and Kingfisher fields, planned for July 2026, has slipped, and officials now point to a date before the end of June 2027.
- —The US angle JPMorgan is a New York-based US bank, but no agreement has been announced, and an expression of interest from a bank is not a loan commitment.
Uganda’s Finance Minister Henry Musasizi describes JPMorgan as interested in supporting the country’s energy sector, the Ugandan news site ChimpReports reported on Sunday 18 October 2026. ChimpReports said the talks took place in Bangkok, Thailand, on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings that ran from Monday 12 to Sunday 18 October.
JPMorgan is a New York-based US bank, and about 46% of Uganda’s foreign debt is already owed in US dollars (US$7.54 billion of US$16.30 billion at the end of June 2026), so US readers have a direct stake in who lends to Kampala. No project, amount, timetable or agreement was named, and The Rio Times found no statement from the bank or from Uganda’s Finance Ministry.
What Was Said in Bangkok
ChimpReports quotes Musasizi as saying: “The Bank’s representatives said they were interested in supporting Uganda’s energy sector.” It named the bank’s executives as Puja Turner, Managing Director and Head of CEEMEA Loans and Structured Credit (a region covering Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa), and Olivier Eweck, Managing Director for Global Public Sector, Sub-Saharan Africa.
Musasizi also said he met senior JPMorgan officials “to discuss Uganda’s priorities and how the Bank can strengthen its collaboration with Uganda”. ChimpReports added that the same two executives took part in April talks with the African Development Bank, the continent’s main multilateral lender, on sovereign financing, capital markets and energy development.
JPMorgan is the corporate and investment banking brand of JPMorganChase, a New York-based bank that lends to governments and companies worldwide. Uganda’s Finance Ministry, which Musasizi leads, runs the national budget and manages the state’s borrowing.
Why Uganda Needs the Money
Uganda’s government says it has 2,098 megawatts of installed generating capacity and wants 52,482 megawatts over the medium to long term, according to Musasizi’s own budget speech of Thursday 11 June 2026. For 2026/27 it set aside Shs 2.07 trillion (about US$530 million at the 16 October 2026 close of 3,907 shillings per US dollar) for energy, including the 380-megawatt Kiba hydropower plant, a floating solar plant at Isimba on the Nile and 500 megawatts of utility-scale solar.
The same speech lists new transmission lines, among them a 400-kilovolt line from Karuma to Tororo, and preparatory work for a nuclear plant at Buyende. Uganda’s total public debt reached US$37.1 billion at the end of June 2026, up from US$32.3 billion a year earlier and equal to 54.3% of GDP, the Finance Ministry’s debt bulletin shows.
Commercial lenders made up 21.2% of Uganda’s external debt at the end of June 2026, up from 18.9% a year earlier. The bulletin credits the rise to budget loans from Afreximbank (the African Export-Import Bank), South Africa’s Rand Merchant Bank and Ecobank, which together disbursed more than US$900 million in the year.
Where Oil Fits In
Uganda is building the 1,443-kilometre East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) to the Tanzanian port of Tanga and developing two oil fields, Tilenga, operated by France’s TotalEnergies, and Kingfisher, operated by CNOOC Uganda, the local arm of China’s state-owned CNOOC. Musasizi’s June budget speech said pipeline and processing construction was “at an advanced stage and nearing completion” and expected first oil “later this year”.
That date has slipped. Ernest Rubondo, then chief executive of the Petroleum Authority of Uganda, the oil regulator, told journalists on Sunday 23 August, the Daily Monitor reported on 24 August, that the end-July target was missed because equipment from the Middle East was delayed, and Uganda Business News reported on Thursday 15 October that the state oil company UNOC now gives a window ending June 2027, with the pipeline about 92% complete and officials telling Parliament it should take crude by mid-December.
ChimpReports adds, as its own background, that Uganda is also seeking capital for a 60,000-barrel-per-day refinery at Kabaale and a proposed 320-million-litre fuel terminal near Kampala, and that several of these plans still need approvals and financing. The minister’s quoted words do not say whether the bank’s interest covers power, oil or both.
Other Talks Around the Annual Meetings
Uganda’s delegation, led by Musasizi with Treasury head Ramathan Ggoobi and central bank governor Michael Atingi-Ego, also met the rating agency Moody’s Ratings and the advisory firm Global Sovereign Advisory in Bangkok, the Nile Post reported on Tuesday 13 October. It said the delegation discussed financing for the Standard Gauge Railway and possible green bonds with Citi, another US bank.
ChimpReports separately reported talks with the Trade and Development Bank, a regional development lender, on affordable financing for the government’s Tenfold Growth Strategy, which aims to grow the economy tenfold to US$500 billion by 2040. The Daily Monitor reported on Friday 16 October that Musasizi also told the IMF’s Africa director, Zeine Zeidane, that Uganda is ready to carry out the conditions for a new IMF programme.
What It Means for US Readers
For US investors and lenders, this is a signal about where energy finance for Uganda may come from, not a deal: no loan, bond or fee has been announced. Uganda already owes about US$7.54 billion of its foreign debt in US dollars, so any new dollar lending would add to a load that grows in shilling terms when the shilling weakens.
US readers who follow oil should note that Uganda’s crude depends on a pipeline that is not yet filled, and that the first-oil date has already moved from July 2026 to a window ending June 2027. Visitors and companies in Uganda are more likely to feel energy trends through power supply and fuel prices, which the government says it has steadied through bulk fuel purchases by the state oil company UNOC.
Uganda has also courted US investors this year, and Musasizi pitched the economy at the second US-Uganda Business and Investment Forum in Washington, which opened on Monday 13 April 2026, the New Vision reported. No US government agency is named in the JPMorgan account.
What Is Not Known
No source other than ChimpReports has been found for the JPMorgan account: the bank has issued no statement, and the Finance Ministry’s website, whose latest news item is dated 7 October 2026, carries no release on the meeting. The Rio Times could not open the ministry’s posts on X, so the exact wording and date of the meeting are unconfirmed.
It is not known which projects, how much money or what timetable the bank has in mind, or whether it would lend, arrange bonds or only advise. The minister’s quoted words refer only to the energy sector, and the oil and power details come from ChimpReports’ own background.
ChimpReports calls Musasizi State Minister for Finance, while the Finance Ministry’s website, the State House cabinet list and his June 2026 budget speech give his title as Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development. This article uses the official title.
No firm start date for oil production has been published by the government or the oil companies. The mid-December readiness date for the pipeline comes from officials’ briefings to Parliament as relayed by Ugandan outlets, not from a document The Rio Times could open.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did JPMorgan reportedly say about Uganda?
Uganda’s Finance Minister Henry Musasizi says JPMorgan’s representatives told him in Bangkok that they are interested in supporting Uganda’s energy sector, ChimpReports reported on 18 October 2026. No project, amount, timetable or agreement was named.
Has JPMorgan confirmed it?
The Rio Times found no statement from JPMorgan or from Uganda’s Finance Ministry confirming the account. Only ChimpReports has carried the minister’s words.
Is JPMorgan lending money to Uganda?
No loan or financing agreement has been announced. An expression of interest is not a commitment to lend.
Why does Uganda need outside money for energy?
Uganda has 2,098 megawatts of installed capacity and a long-term target of 52,482 megawatts, and its public debt reached US$37.1 billion in June 2026. Its 2026/27 budget sets aside Shs 2.07 trillion (about US$530 million) for energy.
When will Uganda’s oil start flowing?
The government’s July 2026 target was missed, and officials now point to a date before the end of June 2027. No production month has been published.
Why should US readers care?
JPMorgan is a US bank, and about 46% of Uganda’s foreign debt is already owed in US dollars. Any new lending would add to a dollar debt load that stood at US$7.54 billion in June 2026.
Sources: ChimpReports, J.P. Morgan Eyes Uganda’s Energy Sector, 18 October 2026, Uganda Ministry of Finance, Budget Speech FY 2026/27, 11 June 2026, Uganda Ministry of Finance, Annual Debt Statistical Bulletin, June 2026, Uganda Ministry of Finance, Ministers, State House of Uganda, The Cabinet, Uganda Ministry of Finance, news item of 7 October 2026, Daily Monitor, first oil delay, 24 August 2026, Daily Monitor, new IMF programme, 16 October 2026, Uganda Business News, first-oil date, 15 October 2026, Nile Post via AllAfrica, Uganda seeks stronger credit rating, 13 October 2026, The Cooperator News, Ugandan delegation in Thailand, 12 October 2026, New Vision, US-Uganda Business and Investment Forum, 14 April 2026. All opened 19 October 2026. Shilling amounts are converted at 3,907 shillings per US dollar, the 16 October 2026 closing rate used as house data by The Rio Times; US dollar figures from the ministry’s bulletin are as published. J.P. Morgan’s interest is as described by Musasizi to ChimpReports; neither the bank nor the ministry has confirmed it.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief