ELIAS BIRYABAREMA UGANDA’S public debt surged 20.5% in the 12 months to June as the east African country soaked up new credit to help deal with the economic impact of COVID-19, the central bank said on Tuesday. The new loans mostly came from international lenders including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). As of the end of June, Uganda's public debt was 56.5 trillion shillings ($15.33 billion), the Bank of Uganda (BoU) said in a report. About two thirds of the debt is held by external creditors, and the public debt is now 40.8% of GDP. The…