Uganda’s retirement benefits sector has reached a total pension assets growth of Shs36 trillion, prompting government to rally the Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA) to accelerate pension reforms and channel the growing pool of long term savings into the country’s ambitious Tenfold Growth Strategy.
The call was made by Finance Minister Henry Musasizi during a meeting with the URBRA Board and Management at the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, where he urged the regulator to ensure the successful implementation of the new Public Service Pension Scheme and strengthen oversight of the rapidly expanding retirement benefits sector.
Musasizi said the country’s growing pension savings represent patient capital that should be carefully managed and invested in sectors capable of stimulating industrialisation, infrastructure development, job creation and private sector growth.
“The retirement benefits sector, whose assets have grown to about Shs36 trillion, should partner with government to use this patient capital to deliver the Tenfold Growth Strategy. These savings must be well managed and deployed in the productive sectors of the economy,” Musasizi said.
He also tasked URBRA with deepening engagement with employers, workers and other stakeholders to encourage voluntary retirement savings, noting that increasing domestic savings is essential for financing Uganda’s development priorities and reducing dependence on external borrowing.
The meeting brought together the URBRA Board, chaired by Henry Balwanyi Magino, and the Authority’s Chief Executive Officer, Martin Anthony Nsubuga, who briefed the minister on the regulator’s strategic priorities over the next five years.
Balwanyi said URBRA’s new Strategic Plan for the period 2025/26 to 2029/30 is built around the theme Harnessing Retirement Savings for Sustainable Socio-economic Transformation, reflecting the authority’s commitment to making retirement savings a key driver of national development.
“Achieving the Tenfold Growth Strategy requires substantially increasing domestic savings, and retirement savings will remain central to that ambition,” Balwanyi said.
He added, “Every shilling saved for retirement is not only securing the future of a Ugandan worker. It is also building the capital that finances Uganda’s future.”
According to Balwanyi, a stronger retirement benefits sector will deepen Uganda’s capital markets, unlock more investment opportunities, support enterprise growth, create jobs and accelerate economic transformation.
The meeting comes as government rolls out reforms to modernise Uganda’s pension system, including implementation of the new Public Service Pension Scheme, which is expected to strengthen pension governance, improve efficiency in managing retirement savings and guarantee better protection for public servants after retirement.
Established under the Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority Act, URBRA regulates and supervises retirement benefits schemes to protect the interests of savers and beneficiaries while promoting a sound, efficient and stable pensions industry.
Over the years, the authority has licensed pension service providers, strengthened governance standards, enhanced consumer protection and promoted financial literacy to encourage a culture of long term saving.
Uganda’s retirement benefits sector has recorded consistent growth over the past decade, driven by improved regulation, stronger compliance and increasing confidence in pension schemes.
The government believes the expanding pool of retirement savings will play a critical role in financing strategic investments under the Tenfold Growth Strategy, which aims to grow Uganda’s economy to $500 billion through value addition, industrialisation, export promotion and private sector led growth.
