Uganda’s retirement benefits sector has registered tremendous growth from sh15.4 trillion in 2020 to sh17 trillion as of July 2021.
This according to the finance minister Matia Kasaija is a demonstration that the retirement benefits sector has the ability to deliver to the National Development Plan III objectives, by mobilising Ugandans to contribute to gross national savings.
“Retirement savings contribute significantly to the country’s gross domestic savings which account for a big proportion of the Gross Domestic Product, Kasaija said.
He was addressing the media at Uganda Media Centre on Thursday. The minister was disseminating the 2020 retirement benefits sector performance report.
In 2020 alone, the retirement benefits sector assets were worth sh15.4 trillion, accounting for 11.1% of the GDP, which is more than 50% of Uganda’s gross domestic savings.
As of July 2021, the sector had grown to 17 trillion worth of assets, according to the Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA).
Kasaija however said whereas more Ugandans are aware of the need to save for retirement, more needs to be done to bring the entire workforce into saving.
“Currently, 2.8million Ugandans are covered under existing retirement benefits schemes. However, this is still low compared to Uganda’s working population which is approximately 15 million people,” he said.
He appealed to URBRA and to other sector players to institute a framework to extend coverage to informal sector workers.
Martin Nsubuga the URBRA chief executive officer said despite the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the sector continued to grow, saying more Ugandans had become aware of the need to save for retirement and to avoid old-age poverty.
