How to Buy Treasury Bills and Bonds in Uganda in 2026: Minimums, Rates and Tax

You can buy a Treasury bill or Treasury bond in Uganda with as little as UGX 100,000, through a Central Securities Depository (CSD) account opened at any Bank of Uganda-registered primary dealer bank — place a non-competitive bid before the auction and the bank handles the rest. As of October 2026, the last Bank of Uganda data we could verify put the 91-day T-bill at 10.4% and the 364-day T-bill at 12.1% (April 2026), but those numbers are almost certainly stale: on 14 October 2026, Bank of Uganda hiked its Central Bank Rate by 225 basis points to 12% to defend a weakening shilling, and government security yields will move with it.

Quick facts

What's the actual difference between a Treasury bill and a Treasury bond?

Both are shilling-denominated debt the Ugandan government sells through Bank of Uganda, and both are treated as the lowest-risk investment available in Uganda because the government backs the repayment.

• Treasury bills run 91, 182 or 364 days. You buy at a discount and get the full face value back at maturity — there's no separate interest payment along the way, the "interest" is simply the gap between what you paid and what you're repaid.
• Treasury bonds run from 2 years out to 25 years. They pay a fixed coupon every six months, then return the face value when the bond matures.

If you might need the money back inside a year, a bill is the obvious choice. If you're comfortable locking it away for longer in exchange for a coupon you can live off, a bond does that job.

How to buy Treasury bills or bonds in Uganda, step by step

1. Pick a bank that holds Bank of Uganda primary dealer status. Centenary Bank confirms on its own site that it's a registered primary dealer that "transacts directly with Bank of Uganda" on behalf of customers (Centenary Bank, checked October 2026). Several other commercial banks have historically held the same status, but Bank of Uganda reviews the primary dealer panel periodically — ask your bank to confirm it currently holds it before you commit money.
2. Hold an account at that bank. Your investment funds need to sit there; it's where the bid is funded from and where you're eventually paid.
3. Open a CSD account through the bank, giving your National ID and your URA Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN). If you don't have a TIN yet, getting one online is free and takes about five minutes.
4. Fill in a Treasury Bill or Bond Bid Application form at the bank. Choose your tenor — 91, 182 or 364 days for a bill, or 2 to 25 years for a bond — and how much you want to put in.
5. Choose a non-competitive bid, unless you're investing an institutional-sized sum. A non-competitive bid is accepted automatically at whatever average rate the auction clears at, so there's no risk of your bid being rejected for naming too high a rate. Competitive bidding, where you name your own rate, needs a far bigger minimum and is really a tool for banks and fund managers, not individual savers.
6. Submit before the bank's cut-off, typically a few working days ahead of the actual Bank of Uganda auction date — ask your bank for its specific deadline.
7. Get paid. A bill pays out its full face value on the maturity date. A bond pays its coupon into your account every six months, then the face value when it matures.

How much do you actually need to start?

UGX 100,000 — confirmed as both the minimum investment and the standard unit (denomination) by Centenary Bank, a registered Bank of Uganda primary dealer (Centenary Bank, checked October 2026). That's the non-competitive route almost every individual investor uses, for bills and bonds alike. Competitive bids need a far larger sum and exist mainly for institutions bidding their own rate, not for someone investing personal savings.

What are Treasury bill and bond rates in Uganda right now?

Bank of Uganda's own statistical release shows the primary-market yield sliding for most of 2026:

Source: Bank of Uganda, Summary of Macroeconomic Indicators — May 2026, checked October 2026. This is the most recent dated figure Bank of Uganda has published that we could verify.

For a single dated auction: on 19 November 2025 (Auction No. 1218), the 91-day bill cleared at a 10.705% discount rate — a 10.999% money-market yield, or 11.461% once you annualise it on a compound basis (Eagle Online, checked October 2026). Three different-sounding numbers, same bill — read the fine print on which one a rate quote is using before you compare it to anything else.

Bonds auctioned around the same period cleared at 16.000% for the 3-year, 17.150% for the 10-year and 17.950% for the 20-year, reopened on 3 September 2025 (Eagle Online, checked October 2026).

Here's the important bit those numbers can't tell you: on 14 October 2026, at an emergency meeting, Bank of Uganda raised its Central Bank Rate by 225 basis points, from 9.75% to 12% — the single biggest move since October 2011. The bank was defending a shilling that has lost around 12% of its value this year and getting ahead of inflation forecast to climb to 7–7.5%, up from 4.6% in September (Nairametrics, checked October 2026). Treasury yields move with the Central Bank Rate, so expect the next few T-bill and T-bond auctions to clear well above the table above. We checked Bank of Uganda's own website for the exact post-hike auction result, but its site had just been rebuilt and the tender-notice and results pages we needed were returning an empty shell rather than the actual documents — ask your bank for the latest cleared rate, or check bou.or.ug directly, before you place a bid off any number in this article.

What tax will you pay on the interest?

Interest from Ugandan government securities is a final withholding tax: your bank deducts it automatically before the money reaches you, and you don't declare it again or owe anything further on it (Uganda Revenue Authority, checked October 2026):

• 20% withholding tax on government securities maturing in 10 years or less — every Treasury bill, plus most Treasury bonds (2, 3 and 5-year).
• 10% withholding tax on government securities maturing in more than 10 years — the 10, 15, 20 and 25-year bonds.

So UGX 100,000 interest on a 182-day bill nets you UGX 80,000 after tax; the same UGX 100,000 earned on a 15-year bond only costs you UGX 10,000. If you see an older guide quoting 15%, that was the rate before July 2012 — it's been 20% (for short paper) for well over a decade, with the 10-year-plus rate cut to 10% under the 2019/20 budget.

Can you sell before maturity?

Yes, in theory. Government securities trade on the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) secondary market: a licensed stockbroker posts your security as an "offer" on the trading board, matched against a buyer's "bid" (Uganda Securities Exchange, checked October 2026). In practice, most of that trading happens between banks and large institutional holders rather than retail investors, so don't assume you can cash out instantly at a fair price — ask your bank or a stockbroker what a specific bill or bond is actually fetching before you count on an early exit.

What to watch out for

• Don't buy a "ready" CSD slot from a reseller. Apply directly with your own ID and TIN at a bank — a slot registered in someone else's name is a liability, not a shortcut.
• Fees aren't standardised or published anywhere we could find. Ask your bank upfront what, if anything, it charges to buy or hold on your behalf.
• The primary dealer list changes. Confirm your bank currently holds the status rather than relying on an old list you found online.
• Rates move every auction. A figure that was accurate in April won't necessarily hold by the time you bid, especially after a Central Bank Rate move this size.
• Know which "rate" you're reading. Discount rate, money-market yield and effective annual yield are three different numbers from the same auction — don't compare a discount rate on one bill to an effective yield on another and assume you've found a better deal.

If you want to see how Treasury bills and bonds stack up against unit trusts, SACCOs and shares before you commit, our roundup of investment options in Uganda compares all of them side by side. If fortnightly auctions and CSD paperwork sound like more admin than you want, a unit trust invests in largely the same T-bills and bonds on your behalf, for a lower minimum and none of the bidding. And if you'd rather park money somewhere with zero auction risk at all, NSSF Uganda's Smartlife Flexi savings product is worth comparing too.

Frequently asked questions

Can a Ugandan living abroad buy Treasury bills or bonds?

In principle, yes, through the same CSD account process at a Ugandan bank, though you'll usually need to complete National ID verification in person or through your bank's diaspora banking channel where one exists. Ask your bank's diaspora desk directly, since this varies by institution.

Is a Treasury bond safer than a fixed deposit?

Both are considered low risk in normal times. The real difference is liquidity: a fixed deposit is usually easier to break early with your bank than a bond is to sell on, so match whichever one you pick to how soon you might actually need the cash.

What happens if you need your money back before a bill matures?

You can try to sell it on the Uganda Securities Exchange secondary market through a stockbroker, but the price you get depends entirely on where rates have moved since you bought and on finding a willing buyer — it's not the same-day, guaranteed cash-out that breaking a fixed deposit usually is.

Do you pay tax on Treasury bill interest if you're not a Ugandan resident?

The withholding tax applies to interest "paid to any person," so it's deducted regardless of your residency status before you're paid. Whether you owe anything further in your own country of residence depends on that country's tax rules and any double-taxation treaty with Uganda, so check with a tax adviser there.

Why do Treasury bill rates in Uganda keep changing?

Because every bill and bond is sold at auction, not at a fixed price. Bank of Uganda invites bids every few weeks, and the rate that clears depends on how much the government wants to borrow that round and how aggressively banks and investors bid for it — which is exactly why the rate moved from around 11% in January 2026 into 12%-plus Central Bank Rate territory by October.

Can you buy Treasury bills with mobile money in Uganda?

Not that we could find any evidence of. Unlike Kenya's M-Akiba bond, which was built around mobile-money purchase, Uganda's Treasury bills and bonds go through a bank's CSD account process, not a phone app or USSD code.