BANGKOK – Uganda has offered Thai investors 10-year tax holidays, full foreign ownership of their businesses and unrestricted repatriation of profits, as it seeks investment in agro-processing, manufacturing, minerals and tourism.
The incentives were presented at the Uganda-Thailand Economic Networking Dinner held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Bangkok on Monday, 12 October 2026. The dinner took place on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which are running in the Thai capital from 12 to 18 October.
Dr Ramathan Ggoobi, the Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury, told investors that qualifying manufacturers and agro-processors pay no income tax for 10 years. He said capital equipment, spare parts and industrial inputs are fully exempt from import duty, and investors can transfer dividends and capital out of the country without restriction under the 2019 Investment Code.
He said investors can also use serviced industrial parks and free zones, which offer subsidised land, power, road access and one-stop licensing.
“In Uganda, we are committed to doing whatever is necessary to facilitate your investment,” Dr Ggoobi said.
Henry Musasizi, the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, said foreign investors could set up quickly and keep full control of their businesses.
“Uganda’s macroeconomic fundamentals are strong. Investing in Uganda is secure. Investment registration takes one day. You can have 100% foreign business ownership although joint partners are encouraged. There is unrestricted profit repatriation,” Musasizi said.
“Through joint ventures and partnerships, Thailand investors can easily establish successful businesses in a fairly short time, earning profits ranging from 15-25% per year. This can even be higher in the high-tech ICT areas such as ICT infrastructure and products, data centres, fintech, and electronics,” he added.
The dinner was organised by the Uganda High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, which is accredited to Thailand, together with the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, under Uganda’s Economic and Commercial Diplomacy Programme.
The Ugandan delegation also included Bank of Uganda Governor Dr Michael Atingi-Ego and Uganda’s High Commissioner to Thailand, Dr Betty Bigombe. Thailand was represented by Urasa Mongkolnavin, Director General of the Department of South Asian, Middle East and African Affairs at the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Thai government officials, investors and private sector players also attended.
Musasizi said Thailand’s success in agro-processing, food exports, tourism and high-tech manufacturing fitted with Uganda’s Tenfold Growth Strategy. The strategy aims to expand the economy from about $70 billion to $500 billion by 2040.
“Thailand has become a global leader in agro-processing, food exports, tourism and high-tech manufacturing. This is aligned with Uganda’s Tenfold Growth Strategy which has identified Agro-industrialization, Tourism development, Mineral development including oil and gas, and Science, Technology and Innovation as high economic and export growth anchor sectors for the country,” he said.
He listed opportunities in agro-processing, tourism and hospitality, pharmaceuticals, steel products, fertilisers, cement, ICT products, processed meat and dairy, and value-added coffee.
“Uganda is now Africa’s leading coffee exporter. We are seeking investors to invest in processing coffee, and other agricultural commodities,” Musasizi said.
He said the government was providing affordable credit to farmers through the Parish Development Model and the Agricultural Credit Facility, so that there would be more raw materials for processing.
The minister urged Thai investors to use Uganda’s mineral resources to make higher-value products. These include electric batteries from lithium, automotive steel and construction materials from iron ore, organic fertilisers from phosphates, and electrical conductors and battery components from copper and cobalt from Kilembe. He also mentioned petrochemicals from oil, and metal alloys and machine parts from wolfram, tin, titanium and chromium.
He said Uganda’s membership of the East African Community (EAC) Customs Union and the African Continental Free Trade Area gave investors access to large regional markets.
Musasizi invited Thai investors to visit Uganda and said the Uganda Investment Authority would guide them through the processes and procedures.
“Together, let us turn the friendship between our two countries into factories, export growth, jobs and shared prosperity,” he said.
Dr Ggoobi named three sectors for cooperation between Uganda and Thailand: agro-processing, light manufacturing, and tourism and hospitality.
He said Thai food technology could be paired with Uganda’s fertile land, which is harvested all year round. He said Thai hospitality brands could invest in Uganda’s growing eco-tourism sector, and Thai manufacturers could assemble car parts, electronics and fast-moving consumer goods for the African market.
Dr Ggoobi said Uganda’s economy grew by 6.4 per cent in the 2025/26 financial year and is projected to grow by 10.2 per cent in 2026/27. He put inflation at 3.3 per cent and said exports rose by 34 per cent to $18.4 billion.
He said foreign direct investment reached $3.7 billion in 2025. Tourism receipts rose by 21.3 per cent to $1.62 billion, and remittances grew by 14 per cent to $2.5 billion.
He said listed companies in Uganda earn an average return on investment of 14 per cent and an average return on equity of 30 per cent.
Citing the Growth Lab at Harvard University, Dr Ggoobi said Uganda had added 31 new export products in 15 years, now worth $333 million a year. That is more new products than Tanzania, Kenya or Rwanda.
He said the Growth Lab projects that Uganda’s economy will grow faster in the decade to 2035 than any of the other 145 countries it tracks. He said the expected start of commercial oil production from the Tilenga and Kingfisher fields would support sustained double-digit growth.
Mongkolnavin said the friendship between Uganda and Thailand is long-standing and there is room for greater economic cooperation. She said Asia was not far from Africa, a message that distance should not stand in the way of trade, investment and tourism between the two regions.
Dr Bigombe called for deeper engagement between Uganda and Thailand.
Organisers said Thai investors showed particular interest in agro-industrialisation, mining, oil and gas, manufacturing, financing and tourism.
The dinner builds on the Pearl of Africa Business Forum, which the High Commission held in Bangkok in November 2025.
Trade between the two countries remains modest. Thailand exported goods worth about $24.7 million to Uganda in 2024, mainly vehicles, according to UN Comtrade data.
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