KAMPALA - Uganda plans to borrow $608 million from ‍lenders such ‍as the Korea Export-Import ​Bank and South Africa's Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) to ⁠finance infrastructure development, a parliament document showed ⁠on Tuesday.

The east African ‌country's ballooning public debt has triggered concern among opposition politicians, ⁠analysts and the central bank, which has warned that high debt servicing costs are diverting resources from essential ⁠social services.

Of the ​total credit, Uganda plans to source $448 million from RMB ‍and the rest from Korea Export-Import Bank, ​according to the document seen by Reuters.

The government plans to request lawmakers to approve the credit lines later on Tuesday, it showed, but did not give details of specific projects to be financed.

Total public debt in the prospective ⁠crude oil producer rose to $32.3 ‌billion in the twelve months to June, up 26.2% from ‌the previous period, ⁠finance ministry data shows.