Statement at Media Launch of the All Africa Pension Summit

Salutations:

• The Managing Director National Social Security Fund, Mr. Patrick Ayota

• Members of the Management Team of National Social Security Fund

• The Media

• Ladies and Gentlemen. 

I am delighted to participate in the Media Launch All Africa Pension Summit 2025, which is an important milestone in contributing to the sustainable development of Africa. 

Let begin by sharing with you some statistics about Africa.

• US$ 1.3 Trillion in pension assets
• US$ 483 Billion in domestic revenue
• US$ 24 Billion in sovereign wealth funds
• US$ 427 Billion in private savings
• US$ 100 Billion in diaspora remittances

I would like to congratulate the Uganda National Social Security Fund (NSSF) for your thought leadership in coming up with the idea and following through with it by organising the summit, which is the first of its kind on the African continent.

The United Nations in Uganda is proud to associate with the summit under the theme “Mobilising Africa’s Pension Capital for Inclusive Development.”

The summit comes at a time of profound transformation in the global financing landscape. Traditional models of development cooperation are being redefined and Official Development Assistance (ODA), though vital, is no longer sufficient to meet the scale and complexity of challenges we have today. The 2024 Financing for Sustainable Development Report underscores that developing countries now face the largest debt burden in 50 years. The report makes clear: “without deep structural reform of the global financial system, we will not deliver on the 2030 Agenda or the Paris Agreement.” As well as the Agenda 2063 – the Africa we want.

Infront of us the turbulence shaping development finance today; declining aid flows, shifting geopolitical priorities and funding uncertainties, more than ever before, it is vital to formulate actionable solutions for enhanced domestic resource mobilization and innovative financing to support national development strategies while fostering resilience and sustainability.

Africa must look inward, mobilizing domestic savings, diaspora remittances, and blended finance models to reduce aid dependency. Given that 15 of the 20 traditional donor partners have reduced their funding, forcing a rethink of how development is financed, Africa needs to shift “from aid to trade,” enabling small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to access capital markets and banks, which is required to realize the national goals; in the case of Uganda, the fourth National Development Plan - NDP IV (2025–2030) which aims for tenfold growth—expanding from a US$ 61.3 billion economy today (according to the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development) to US$500 billion by 2040.

To achieve this it will be necessary to significantly enhance Domestic Resource Mobilisation (DRM) through among others, improved tax systems, innovative financing instruments, and more effective public expenditure – especially within the framework of the National Development Plan IV with a focus the priority sectors of Agriculture, Tourism Minerals and Science, Technology and Innovation (ATMS).

 Enhancing DRM must go beyond revenue collection, to include more efficient expenditure on public goods and services, as well as mobilizing resources from other sources including pension funds, capital markets, and diaspora. It must empower the state to fulfill citizen priorities through effective, transparent, and inclusive systems.

It is imperative to unlock domestic capital through various sources, including pension funds that have been growing rapidly in recent years – Uganda’s retirement benefits sector is now worth Uganda Shilling 25.4 Trillion, an 18.6% increment from Uganda Shilling 21.4 trillion in 2023. It would also be prudent to unlock domestic capital from  capital markets and innovative instruments such as insurance funds, patient and venture capital, green and infrastructure bonds, as well as remittances and diaspora investments.

The All Africa Pension Summit will lay the foundation for a continental discussion on how Africa’s US$ 1.3 Trillion pension assets can be strategically leveraged into transformation engines for inclusive growth, sustainable infrastructure, and social protection.

While tax collection rates remain low in Africa (13% of GDP in the case of Uganda); and the informal sector that is largely untaxed (54% in the case of Uganda), there has been a significant increase in low income earners from micro businesses making voluntary contributions to NSSF.

Patient capital from pension funds can strengthen public-private partnerships in agriculture to integrate smallholder farmers; Expand access to startup financing through innovative, low-collateral instruments and Invest in business development services (BDS) and research and development (R&D).

Given the transformative potential of the summit, the United Nations is fully behind it. The United Nations is actively involved as a partner in preparations for the summit through providing technical assistance including contribution to framing of side events and sourcing of experts to participate in the various sessions. 

We call on all stakeholders to actively participate in the summit in order to contribute the acceleration of the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa.

Thank you