President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has said Uganda is ending 2025 with a strong and growing economy, citing major improvements in production, exports, jobs and household incomes.
In his end-of-year address to the nation, the President congratulated Ugandans for completing the year peacefully and wished them prosperity in 2026 and beyond.
“Mama Janet and myself wish everybody a prosperous 2026 and beyond,” Museveni said.
The President said Uganda’s economy is now valued at USD 68.4 billion using the foreign exchange method and USD 194.2 billion under the purchasing power parity method. He added that GDP per capita has reached USD 1,399, placing Uganda firmly in the lower middle-income category and out of the least developed country status.
“In other words, the economy has grown 13 times in size since 1986,” he said.
Museveni compared current production levels to those of 1986, highlighting major growth across key sectors. Coffee exports have increased from 3.6 million bags to 8.2 million bags, while maize production has grown from 322,000 metric tonnes to 4 million metric tonnes. Milk production has risen from 200 million litres to 5.4 billion litres, and cement production from 776,000 tonnes to 7 million tonnes.
Tourism has also rebounded strongly.
“From almost no tourist arrivals, we now receive about 1.6 million tourists a year, and hotel beds have grown from less than 1,000 to about 150,000,” Museveni said.
The President noted that Uganda has reached a new milestone where export earnings now exceed imports, with exports at USD 13.4 billion compared to an import bill of USD 11.03 billion, creating a surplus of over USD 2 billion.
He acknowledged existing challenges such as poverty, unemployed graduates, poor roads and corruption, but said the foundation for solutions is already in place.
“We have already moved 70% of the homesteads into the money economy,” he said, compared to just 32% in 2013 and 9% at independence.
Museveni pointed to government programmes such as Universal Primary Education, Universal Secondary Education, Operation Wealth Creation and the Parish Development Model (PDM) as key drivers of household income growth.
During the address, success stories were shared from different regions, including farmers who used PDM funds to grow maize, rear livestock, plant mangoes and start value addition businesses. Some reported earning millions of shillings annually, buying land, paying school fees and expanding their farms.
“This is money I am not going to suffer with. My children will not suffer,” said one farmer from Karamoja who benefited from mango farming.
The President said Uganda now has over 50,000 factories employing more than 800,000 people, while the services sector has created about six million jobs. Commercial agriculture employs 3.8 million people, and the ICT sector employs 2.3 million.
“Anybody who downplays these achievements is an enemy of Uganda,” Museveni said.
He concluded by saying that the issue of wealth and jobs already has solutions, urging Ugandans to embrace government programmes and focus on production, value addition and discipline as the country moves into 2026.
