About Shs400 billion in petroleum revenues is sitting idle in government accounts without being invested, the Acting Accountant General, Godfrey Ssemugooma, has told Parliament’s Committee on Finance, Planning and Economic Development.
Ssemugooma said the funds cannot currently be invested because the existing legal framework requires Parliament to authorise government to invest petroleum revenues. He was responding to concerns by MPs over the management of petroleum revenues and whether money accumulating in the Petroleum Fund could be invested to generate additional returns for the country.
According to Ssemugooma, the money is largely held in foreign currency, with the dollar collections maintained in an account in New York. He said government faces a legal constraint because petroleum revenues can only be invested after Parliament has provided the necessary authority through appropriation.
The Accountant General argued that the current arrangement creates a situation where substantial public resources can remain on accounts for extended periods without generating returns.
“It means as we prepare the budget, we have to anticipate,” he said, suggesting that the legal framework could be made more flexible to allow government to invest petroleum revenues while maintaining parliamentary oversight. The disclosure came as MPs were scrutinising the management of Uganda’s Petroleum Fund and the use of petroleum revenues ahead of expected commercial oil production
.The Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Henry Musasizi, reported that the Petroleum Fund had a balance of Shs212.6 billion by December 2025, after receiving an additional Shs81 billion in petroleum revenues. The fund had stood at Shs131.27 billion as of June 30, 2025, compared to Shs145.98 billion the previous year.
The government has also already appropriated substantial petroleum revenues for infrastructure and development projects. In the 2024/25 financial year, Shs281.87 billion was appropriated, with Shs166.5 billion invested through Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) and Shs115.37 billion used to finance part of the construction of Hoima City Stadium.
The committee questioned whether the government should continue holding large petroleum balances without investing them, particularly given Uganda’s competing development needs.
Ssemugooma told MPs that the issue requires a balance between earning returns from idle resources and ensuring compliance with the law governing the Petroleum Fund. He said the current restrictions mean that even where money accumulates faster than anticipated, government cannot simply move it into investments without parliamentary authorisation.
The committee also raised questions about foreign-exchange gains and losses on petroleum revenues held in dollars. Ssemugooma explained that the exchange-rate impact is only realised when the foreign currency is converted or spent.
Because petroleum revenues are largely received in US dollars, he said government attempts to match dollar receipts with dollar expenditure as a form of hedging against exchange-rate losses. The disclosure of the idle Shs400 billion comes amid wider concerns about the management of Uganda’s petroleum revenues, including delayed remittances and outstanding payments.
The committee was told that Shs3.1 billion in non-tax revenue, relating to training and surface rental fees, remains unpaid by oil companies. The Acting Commissioner General of Uganda Revenue Authority, Abel Kagumire, however, told MPs that government had recently addressed a problem that had contributed to delays in remitting petroleum revenues.
He said Bank of Uganda opened a dedicated Uganda Shillings Petroleum Fund account in August 2026, following a government directive, and petroleum revenues are now being deposited directly into the account.
Kagumire said the funds are also swept daily, meaning the previous delays in transferring petroleum revenues to the Petroleum Fund should no longer occur. The committee is expected to receive further information from the Ministry of Finance on the petroleum revenues, investments and infrastructure projects funded from the oil money-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
