By Enyichukwu Enemanna
In what will be a major boost in infrastructural development, Uganda’s Ministry of Finance has signed an $800 million financing agreement with the Islamic Development Bank of Saudi Arabia.
The funds will support a range of development projects, including a planned standard gauge railway aimed at boosting trade and connectivity for the landlocked East African nation.
The railway will connect to neighbouring Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway and on to the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa.
Other projects to be financed under the three-year deal will be in sectors such as health, transport and energy infrastructure.
The agreement was signed by Ramathan Ggoobi, the finance ministry’s most senior technocrat, and the bank’s Vice President Rami Ahmed at the Saudi Arabia-headquartered development bank’s annual meeting in Algiers, the ministry said on X late on Wednesday.
