The Minister of State for Finance Planning and Economic Development, Henry Musasizi, has told Parliament’s Committee on National Economy that the country continued to register growth in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows in the past Financial Year (FY).

“FDI inflows increased by 68.3 percent in 2022/23, largely hinged on the developments in the oil sector as Uganda prepares for its first oil. FDI inflows rose from $1,688.56 million in FY 2021/22 to $2,842.65 million FY 2022/23,” Musasizi said.

Musasizi who was presenting the Performance of the Economy, State of Indebtedness and Strategies to improve the economy revealed that remittances to Uganda increased to $1,431.23 million in 2022/23 higher than the value of $1,133.94 million registered in 2021/22.

Musasizi said the Ugandan economy is steadily recovering from the effects of economic shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic and that the economy is projected to grow at 6.0 percent.

This growth is because of continued investments in oil & gas & government interventions through Parish Development Model (PDM), Emyooga, and Investment for Industrial Transformation & Employment project and small business recovery fund among others.

According to the minister, estimates by Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) indicate that the size of the economy increased to Shs184, 895 billion in FY 2022/23 from Shs162, 750 billion registered in FY 2021/22.

This expansion was on account of good performance of all sectors of the economy.

The minister said inflation has continued to slow down due to appropriate & well-coordinated monetary and fiscal policies. Headline inflation declined from a peak of 10.7% in October 2022 to 2.7% in September 2023 & now 2.4% in October 2023, he said.

In his report to the MPs, the minister reveals that export receipts grew by 42.5% to $5,466.99 million from $3,836.58 million in FY 2021/22 largely driven by increase in earnings from mineral products, coffee, maize and tea among others.

He said coffee export receipts amounted to US$ 121.64 million in August 2023, representing a 15.9 percent increase compared to the US$ 104.99 million receipts in July 2023.