Uganda's Recipe for Growth
IMF Blog, July 21, 2017
Source details
- Canonical URL
- Uganda's Recipe for Growth
Other formats
Bibliographic details
- Authors: The Editors
- Published: July 21, 2017
Economic slowdown and causes
- After two decades of steady growth, Uganda’s economy has slowed, and life for Ugandans is not improving fast enough.
- Per capita growth fell to ½ percent from an average of 5 percent for the past 20 years.
- Contributing factors cited:
- Drought in the Horn of Africa
- Regional conflict
- Slow credit growth
Oil production and revenue estimates
- Government plans and timeline:
- The government is planning to start oil production in 2020, and reap the benefits for almost 30 years.
- Revenue projections (IMF estimates quoted):
- Revenues could range on an annual basis from about ½ percent GDP initially to about 4 percent at peak production.
- Governance challenge highlighted:
- “The challenge that many oil producers face is to manage this well.” (quote)
Public investment and infrastructure
- IMF view on public investment efficiency:
- Focus on picking the right projects, preparing them properly, and executing them properly.
- “By picking the right projects, making sure they are prepared the right way and executed properly, at the end of the day, infrastructure investment can give Uganda high growth.” (quote)
- Policy implication:
- Strategic infrastructure investment can help turn the economy around if implemented efficiently.
Revenue collection and tax administration
- Government plans:
- The government has plans to increase revenue collection.
- IMF support:
- The IMF has been helping the country improve its tax collection including that of international companies doing business in Uganda.
- Issue noted:
- International companies may structure operations to shift where they pay taxes; countries need to “make sure that companies pay taxes for the activities in your country.” (quote)
Additional items
- Multimedia and further reading:
- A podcast featuring IMF Mission Chief for Uganda, Axel Schimmelpfennig, discusses these topics.
- An IMF staff report provides an economic health check of Uganda.
Source: IMF blog post "Uganda's Recipe for Growth", The Editors, July 21, 2017.
