Why govt borrowed over sh4 trillion in October

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The Government of Uganda says it borrowed shillings 4,379.60 billion through treasury bills and treasury bonds in October 2025.

The finance ministry, in its latest performance of the economy report, says it raised the cash from two Treasury Bill (T-Bill) auctions and two Treasury Bond (T-Bond) auctions.

Of the total amount, shillings 702.31 billion was raised from T-Bills, while 3,677.29 billion was raised from T-Bonds, according to the report.

The ministry says of the total amount, 3,825.08 billion was used for financing items in the budget, while 554.52 billion was used for refinancing maturing securities.

Interest rates

According to the ministry, yields (interest rates) on Treasury Bills on the 182-day and 364-day TBs declined to 13.1 per cent and 15.0 per cent in October 2025, down from 13.2 per cent and 15.3 per cent in September 2025, respectively.

"Conversely, the yield on the 91-day tenor bill rose to 11.7 per cent from 11.2 per cent, over the same period". 

The report adds that all auctions for Treasury Bills remained oversubscribed, with an average bid-to-cover ratio recorded at 1.74 in October 2025.

Yields on Treasury Bonds

In October 2025, the report says, the Government held auctions for the two-year, three-year, five-year, 10-year, 15-year and 20-year bond tenors on the primary securities market.

"Yields for the two-year and 15-year bonds remained unchanged when compared with their previous issuances, at 15.75 per cent and 17.65 per cent, respectively". 

Yields for the three-year, five-year, 10-year and 20-year bonds trended upwards in October 2025, rising to 16.00 per cent, 16.20 per cent, 17.15 per cent and 17.95 per cent from 15.70 per cent, 15.50 per cent, 16.92 per cent and 17.66 per cent, respectively, in the previous issuances. 

The rise in yields for T-Bonds reflects Government’s preference towards issuing longer-dated instruments.