Pearl Bank’s loan book has crossed the Shs 1 trillion mark, a milestone that underscores the lender’s rapid growth and expanding role in financing Ugandan businesses, households and productive sectors of the economy.
The milestone represents significant growth from the Shs 749 billion loan portfolio reported at the end of December 2025, reflecting the bank’s continued expansion in market share and focus on productive-sector financing.
Agriculture and agro-industrialisation have been the biggest drivers of the growth, accounting for about 35 per cent of Pearl’s total loan book. Nearly half of the portfolio is directed towards activities aligned with Uganda’s priority growth sectors under the National Development Plan IV and the government’s Tenfold Growth Strategy.
“We set ourselves the ambition of doubling our market share and then developed products that could help us scale quickly. Agriculture and agro-industrialisation have been particularly important, supported by disciplined execution across the bank,” said Martin Mugisha, Pearl Bank executive director in charge of operations.
The bank has expanded financing across agricultural production, processing and related value chains, while increasing its lending to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), trade, logistics, construction and other sectors that underpin economic activity.
A key driver of the growth has been Pearl’s partnerships with institutions that provide affordable funding or help mitigate lending risks.
These include the government, the Bank of Uganda’s Agricultural Credit Facility (ACF), Aceli Africa, aBi Finance, the French Development Agency (AFD) and other development finance partners.
“The biggest constraint to private-sector credit remains the cost of borrowing. Partnerships allow us either to reduce the cost of funds or share some of the lending risk. That enables us to lend more affordably and sustainably, particularly to agriculture and SMEs where financing gaps remain significant,” Mugisha said.
Long-term financing
Looking ahead, Pearl Bank plans to deepen its presence in agriculture while expanding financing to tourism, construction, minerals and other long-term productive investments supporting the government’s ATMS agenda.
Mugisha said achieving this ambition would require greater access to long-term capital to match the financing needs of sectors where investments typically take longer to generate returns.
“We are still on the journey towards doubling our market share. The next phase will require stronger local and international partnerships and, critically, more long-term capital,” he said.
“That will allow us to finance longer-term investments without creating liquidity mismatches while keeping onward lending affordable.”