The Government has committed to covering all bank fees associated with loans issued under Parish Development Model (PDM) initiative to ensure benefifciaries get the full amount.
This according to the State Minister for Finance, Henry Musasizi, is aimed at providing relief to beneficiaries of the program and enhance the program’s effectiveness in transforming lives through sustainable economic growth.
President Yoweri Museveni recently instructed that beneficiaries should receive the full loan amount of Shs1 million, which is the minimum allocation under the program.
In June 2024, the government allocated an extra Shs1.059 trillion for the PDM program to enhance household incomes nationwide, providing each parish with an additional Shs100 million to support more families. This funding increase would raise the total PDM allocation since its inception to Shs2.4 trillion, with Shs1 million designated for each household.
Beneficiaries of the PDM funds are distributed across 10,585 parishes. By June of this year, 1.165 million households had received and invested the PDM funds in various sectors, including salons, carpentry, general merchandise, poultry, dairy farming, piggery, horticulture, and a variety of cash and food crops.
The latest National Population and Housing Census indicates that Uganda has a total population of 46 million.
Speaking during a PDM awareness program in Rubanda district, Hamuhambo Town Council, Musasizi noted that some banks were deducting up to Shs30,000 from the loans, which the president discovered during his recent PDM tours in various parts of the country.
The Government’s PDM is designed to assist the most impoverished individuals who are living on a day-to-day basis, helping them transition into the monetary economy to improve their livelihoood and foster economic growth.
Statistics from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics show that Teso sub region is among those with the highest rate of poverty, recorded at 56%. This figure is an improvement compared to Acholi at 64%, West Nile at 59%, and Lango at 57%.
The lowest poverty rates were in Kampala at 0.4%, followed by Buganda South at 18% and Buganda North at 30%.
According to World Bank data, as of 2024, 42.52% of Uganda’s population lives on less than $2.15 (approximately Shs 8,000) per day.
