Uganda's private sector growth continued in March, with PMI slightly rising

Investing.com – Uganda’s private sector continued to expand in March, with the Purchasing Managers’ Index rising from 54.2 in February to 54.3, signaling a 14th consecutive month of improvement in the business environment.

The latest Standard Chartered Bank Uganda PMI data show that, supported by favorable demand conditions, output and new orders continued to grow. Firms reported an increase in the number of clients, improved purchasing power among customers, and broadly based growth across all sectors.

Ugandan businesses expanded their workforce in March, with many firms hiring temporary workers to support capacity. With a rise in new order inflows, backlogs increased for the second consecutive month.

Input costs rose during the month. Firms reported that additional hiring led to higher wage expenses. Fuel and utilities costs were seen as the main drivers of inflation. The construction sector was the only one to record a decline in purchase prices, while wage expenses in wholesale and retail firms decreased.

In March, firms raised their output prices in order to pass higher costs on to customers. Selling prices have been increasing month by month for about 18 months.

Despite another deterioration in supplier performance, firms expanded purchasing activity for input items and built up safety stocks to cope with more new business.

Christopher Legilisho, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank, said that despite the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, firms remained optimistic about output over the next 12 months. He added that, according to the latest data released by Uganda’s Bureau of Statistics, the overall inflation rate in March fell year over year to 2.8%.

Data were collected from March 12 to 27, 2026.

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