INSURERS CHALLENGED TO BE PART OF UGANDA’S 10-FOLD GROWTH STRATEGY

Insurers have been challenged to move beyond traditional insurance products and play a bigger role in supporting investment, infrastructure, production and other areas of Uganda’s economic transformation in the wake of the implementation of the 10-fold growth framework.

According to the National Planning Authority Executive Director, Dr. Joseph Muvawala, insurance should be part of the institutional architecture that makes economic growth possible and thus urged the insurance industry to position itself to support the anticipated growth.

Dr. Muvawala who was speaking at 69th CEOs Breakfast Meeting organized by the Insurance Regulatory Authority of Uganda (IRA) in Kampala on September 23, 2026, said Uganda’s 10- fold growth target would require major investments in infrastructure, agro-industrialization, tourism development, mineral development, technology and innovation especially through creatives. Such investments, he said, will create a much greater need for insurance to manage associated risks.

“Insurance is not a service that becomes relevant after growth has occurred. It is part of the institutional architecture that makes growth possible,” Dr. Muvawala said.

The Ten-Fold Growth framework aims to increase Uganda’s economy from about US$50 billion in 2023 to US$500 billion by 2040.

Dr. Muvawala, however, expressed concern that Uganda’s insurance industry remains relatively small compared with the size of the economy and the scale of investment planned under the Fourth National Development Plan (NDP IV).

He noted that while the industry’s gross written premiums reached Shs2.02 trillion in 2025 and claims paid stood at Shs778.9 billion, penetration remains low, at about 0.8% of the Gross Domestic Product, and that only about 2.27 million people, representing 5.04% of Uganda’s population, had insurance cover.