Uganda’s Economic Outlook Is Very Optimistic – Museveni
President Yoweri Museveni has assured Ugandans that the country’s economy is continuing to expand despite the effects of climate change on agriculture and infrastructure by the floods, the conflict in Eastern Europe, which led to a rise in the prices of some strategic commodities such as oil as well as the recent rise in interest rates globally.
“Uganda’s economic outlook is very optimistic. This is mainly because of the consistent support to the private sector through supportive policies that create a business friendly environment, infrastructure investments in energy, transport and ICT, enhanced access to credit (through the Parish Development Model (PDM), Small Business Recovery Fund, Emyooga, Agriculture Credit Facility, UDB, UDC, etc.), as well as the swift and comprehensive response to the impact of the previous health crises and the regional geopolitical security issues,” he said.
The President made the remarks yesterday while delivering his 38th National Resistance Movement (NRM) victory Anniversary speech at State Lodge, Nakasero.
According to the President, Uganda’s economy grew to Shs184.89 trillion ($ 49.5 billion) in the financial year 2022/2023, up from Shs162.750 billion ($ 45.6 billion) registered in the financial year 2021/22.
“In real terms, the economy grew by 5.2 percent in the financial year 2022/2023, better than 4.6 percent registered in the financial year 2021/22. This expansion was a result of good performance of most sectors of the economy, with services growing at 6.2 percent (especially in trade, tourism, education, ICT, arts and entertainment); agriculture at 4.8 percent with food crops growing at 4.7 percent from 3.5 percent, livestock at 8.8 percent from 8.3 percent, and fish activities at 8.6 percent from 0.3 percent in FY2022/23 and FY2021/22, respectively. The growth in industry was 3.5 percent, slower than the 5.1 percent recorded in the same period the previous year,” the President noted.
He said the size of the economy will further grow from Shs184.3 trillion in the financial year 2022/23 to Shs204.9 trillion ($55 billion) by end of financial year 2023/24 and then leap to Shs225.5 trillion in the financial year 2024/25 (equivalent to $60 billion).
The President explained that this will be driven by the higher output in the services, industry and agriculture sectors of the economy; the recovery in aggregate demand as inflation slows down; the continued implementation of the Parish Development Model; expediting investments in Oil & Gas Sector; continued recovery in tourism; growth in regional trade including in the EAC, COMESA and globally.
“The implementation of the interventions to accelerate economic growth through productivity improvements and value addition to our abundant raw materials in the anchor sectors of agro-industrialization, oil and gas, mineral development, tourism and knowledge economy development, will shift the economic growth path to a level of 8 percent per annum on average over the medium term. This will increase the pace of our socio-economic transformation and building an independent, integrated and self-sustaining economy as was enunciated in point no.5 of the 10 Point NRM Programme.”