{
  "title": "Uganda: The Informal Cross Border Trade Survey",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/data/statistics/informal-economy-data/reports/uganda-the-informal-cross-border-trade-survey",
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  "summary": "Uganda: The Informal Cross Border Trade Survey <br />Informal Economy Reports Core Links Informal Economy Reports IMF Committee on Balance of Payments Statistics <img src=\"-/media/422221554DBB4F99A6466347AD11CB08.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Introduction and background",
      "content": "- Uganda started the Informal Cross Border Trade Survey (ICBT) to bridge gaps in external trade statistics identified by a 2003 baseline survey that revealed informal cross border trade was a significant component of merchandise trade between Uganda and neighbouring countries.\n- The full scale ICBT survey was launched in 2007 and has since been conducted consistently over the years.\n- Main objectives:\n  - Reduce data gaps in the balance of payments (BoP) and national accounts (NA) statistics.\n  - Establish the main commodities traded informally.\n  - Determine the value and volumes traded.\n  - Ascertain the direction of trade."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Scope",
      "content": "- Current coverage:\n  - 20 border posts distributed across the country.\n  - 4 bus terminals which are departure/arrival points for buses destined to/arriving from neighboring countries.\n- Border selection factors:\n  - Volume of trade captured by the Customs Department.\n  - Security.\n  - Transport and communication links.\n  - Availability of supporting institutions like Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), Uganda Police, other security agencies and Immigration offices.\n- Survey coverage definition:\n  - Transactions in goods between residents and non-residents not documented in the official customs clearance system and therefore not included in official trade statistics.\n  - Includes goods entering or leaving at border posts but not captured by customs irrespective of the value; goods not declared or partially declared on customs documents; goods loaded or offloaded at bus terminals destined to or originating from foreign countries.\n  - Exclusions: smuggled goods, transit goods, and goods crossing border points beyond working hours."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Methodology",
      "content": "- Monitoring schedule:\n  - Data collection is done over a period of two consecutive weeks in a given month, and estimates are uprated to cover the entire month.\n  - Enumerators observe and record all merchandise entering and leaving the country between 7:00am and 6:00pm.\n- Staffing:\n  - Number of enumerators per border post ranges between two (2) and six (6), depending on volume of trade.\n  - Survey team comprises Enumerators, data Entrants and data Editors recruited from Bank of Uganda (BOU) and Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS).\n  - Minimum qualification: Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) with credits in Mathematics and English at Uganda Ordinary Level of Education; higher qualifications are an advantage.\n  - Candidates are interviewed; enumerators undergo training prior to deployment (normally at the beginning of every financial year) including a simulation exercise.\n- Data collection methods and instruments:\n  - Main method: direct observation with occasional interaction with traders for clarification.\n  - Local units of measure established for main items; enumerators sometimes weigh items to ascertain quantities.\n  - Data recorded initially in a counter book, then transferred to Summary Form A (summary by commodity, quantity, price, mode of transport, country of origin/destination).\n  - Vehicle form used to capture trade data of commodities ferried on vehicles at busy border posts."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Compilation practices",
      "content": "- Valuation conventions:\n  - Exports valued on a free on board (FoB) basis.\n  - Imports valued at cost insurance and freight (cif).\n- Price collection:\n  - Prices of traded goods are collected from around the border on a daily basis.\n- Coding and integration:\n  - Data processing involves coding into HS and SITC nomenclatures for merging with customs data.\n- Treatment of partial monitoring and missing data:\n  - Because data is collected for only two weeks a month, an uprating model is used to derive estimates for the weeks not monitored.\n  - Missing data due to failure to conduct the survey in a given period is estimated using standard linear interpolation and extrapolation models.\n- Consistency and validation:\n  - Consistency checks and other data validation procedures applied during processing."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Dissemination",
      "content": "- Two major dissemination channels:\n  - Integration into merchandise trade statistics disseminated by BOU and UBOS and included in the country’s balance of payments statement; available on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis.\n  - ICBT Annual Report: publishes findings, detailed description of methodology, uprating models, and other information about the survey.\n- Both dissemination categories are accessible via the websites of BOU and UBOS."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Challenges",
      "content": "- Funding:\n  - The survey requires a huge and consistent flow of funds; insufficient resources can result in months not being monitored and hinder assessment of seasonality effects. Funding is currently shared between BOU and UBOS.\n- Mapping to international nomenclatures:\n  - Transforming ICBT data into HS and SITC is often long and tedious because some items are recorded in local names that may not have direct matches.\n- Quantification difficulties:\n  - Some items lack standard units of measure (e.g., live animals).\n- Concealment and trader behavior:\n  - Traders may conceal items through bulk packaging and/or repackaging, forcing enumerators to rely on trader-provided information that may be incorrect.\n- Recording and pricing of assorted goods:\n  - Assorted packs (e.g., vehicle spare parts) complicate recording and quantification because individual parts differ in form, weight, purpose and price; recording individually is ideal but not always possible."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Comparison with the COMESA SSCBT",
      "content": "- Differences:\n  - Uganda’s ICBT survey focuses mainly on merchandise trade and does not capture cross border services trade.\n  - COMESA Small Scale Cross Border Trade (SSCBT) program captures both merchandise and services trade and includes variables such as \"gender of the trader\".\n- Harmonization plans:\n  - Plans are at an advanced stage to capture the variable “gender of the trader” in the ICBT survey to harmonize with other stakeholders."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Conclusions and key statistics",
      "content": "- Utility:\n  - Since inception, the ICBT survey has provided useful information to bridge the gap in external trade statistics.\n- Informal trade contribution:\n  - Over the last five (5) years, informal trade has on average accounted for about 14.0 percent of total export earnings.\n- Net position:\n  - Overall, Uganda remains a net exporter under informal trade."
    }
  ],
  "bullets": [
    "Uganda started the Informal Cross Border Trade Survey (ICBT) to bridge gaps in external trade statistics identified by a 2003 baseline survey that revealed informal cross border trade was a significant component of merchandise trade between Uganda and neighbouring countries.",
    "The full scale ICBT survey was launched in 2007 and has since been conducted consistently over the years.",
    "Main objectives:",
    "Current coverage:",
    "Border selection factors:",
    "Survey coverage definition:",
    "Monitoring schedule:",
    "Staffing:",
    "Data collection methods and instruments:",
    "Valuation conventions:",
    "Price collection:",
    "Coding and integration:",
    "Treatment of partial monitoring and missing data:",
    "Consistency and validation:",
    "Two major dissemination channels:",
    "Both dissemination categories are accessible via the websites of BOU and UBOS.",
    "Funding:",
    "Mapping to international nomenclatures:",
    "Quantification difficulties:",
    "Concealment and trader behavior:",
    "Recording and pricing of assorted goods:",
    "Differences:",
    "Harmonization plans:",
    "Utility:",
    "Informal trade contribution:",
    "Net position:"
  ],
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  "generatedAtUtc": "2026-10-02T02:58:22.153Z"
}