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Economic Achievements Of The Last Twenty Years

Over the last 20 years, NRM government achieved great successes in economic management. These achievements have been consolidated over the period 200 I - 2005 by implementing the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) through which Government has been fully dedicated to. the achievement of economic and social progress and thus registering high economic growth and relative political stability. Some of the key highlights of the achievements made can be summarized as follows:

Economic Achievements:

Since 1986, the economy has more than tripled in size in real terms, with real growth averaging 6.4% per annum, much higher than many sub-Saharan African countries.

Private Investment:

Strong investment growth has been the backbone of overall economic growth. Real investment growth has averaged 9.7% since 1986, with the investment ratio rising from 9.3% GDP in 1986/87 to 22.1 % of GDP in 2003/04 and 22.4% in 2004/05.Investment growth has been driven primarily by the private sector, supported by growth in foreign direct investment (FDI). Annual FDI growth has averaged almost 20.0% in US dollar terms, with its share of GDP doubling over the last decade.

Exports:

Exports of goods and services have increased from US$ 254m in 1992/93 to almost US$ Ibn in 2003/04. Equally as important dependence on coffee export earnings has fallen from over 50% of total exports in the early to mid - 1990s to just 11 % in 2003/04 and 11.4% in 2004/05. Uganda achieved export diversification by re-invigorating other traditional export sectors (cotton, tea and tobacco) and promoting non-traditional export sectors (fish, flowers and vanilla) and tourism.

The share of non-traditional goods (in total exports) increased from 47.4% in 1992/ 93 to 77.6% in 2003/04 and 79.9% in 2004/05. During the period 2001 77.6% in2003/04 and 79.9% in 2004/05. During the period 2001 - 2004 over Uganda Shillings 70bn was spent on strategic export sectors through the Strategic Export Programme (SEP).

Coffee:

Over 65 million coffee seedlings (81 % of the planned 80 million) were given out to farmers, benefiting 340,000 households. However,40-50% of the seedlings did not grow into coffee plants. To enhance value, 16 wet processing facilities were imported. Efforts are ongoing to produce Qrganic coffee for niche markets.

Tea:

The number of tea growers has risen sharply from 16.7% to 66.7% within the tea growing areas. Over 300,000 quality clones were distributed and plant survival rate is high at 70-95%.

Cotton:

Over 15,000 mt of cotton seed were distributed to farmers as well as delinting and grading machines. Through farmers organisations and cooperatives, farmers have purchased tractor ploughing services.

Horticulture (fruits, vegetables, cut flowers):

Over 1.2 billion shillings spent between 200 I and 2003 on seed improvement and multiplication establishment of mother gardens, distribution of planting materials, training of exporters and farmers and support to private producer and export firms.

Irish Potatoes:

About 10 I ,240 kg of high quality potato seeds were distributed to farmers and 8 high yielding varieties were released.

Fish:

Over 28 water bodies (17 dams and II minor lakes) and about 1000 farmers' ponds were stocked with fingerlings of Nile Tilapia and African catfish.

Beef:

About 70 Boran bulls were imported and distributed to farmers in 12 districts.

Boer Goats:

Over 1200 Boer goats were imported from South Africa and distributed to farmers.

Warehouse Receipt System:

Four commodities were traded on the exchange (maize 300 mt, simsim 200 mt, soyabean 60 mt and red eye chillies 7 mt).

ICT:

Close to 1 billion Uganda Shillings was released to Uganda InvestmentAuthority I to support ICT related activities. ICT outbound missions were organized, efforts I are underway to promote tele-services outsourcing, support and to train IT ! graduates. The ICT policy is in place, the e-commerce strategy is about to be completed and a Draft Bill for E-· Commerce, E-Evidence and Computer Crime has been drafted for Cabinet action.

Structural Transformation:

Industrial growth has averaged 10.3% per annum in real terms since 1986, outpacing growth in both services (7.0%) and agriculture (3.9%). As a result, the share of industry in total output has increased from 11.0% ofGDP in 1986/87 to 19.8% in 2000/04 and 20.6% in 2004/05 while agriculture's share fell from 53.2% to . 37.6%. These shifts constitute the process I of structUral transformation, whereby production moved slowly away from I substance-based agriculture towards a mix of commercial agriculture industry and services.

Economic Reforms and Macroeconomic Management:

Economic reforms such as the liberalization of markets (exchange rate, agriculture price control), privatization and public expenditure reforms, have been successfully implemented and led to the above positive achievements, thanks largely to the consistency with which the reforms have been applied. Inflation has been brought under control since the early '1990s encouraging both savings and private. investments. Credibility of Government's macroeconomic management is high, as evident by the strong growth in private investment, including FDI. Privatisation has given opportunities to competitive, private providers in activities previously confined to the public sector and has fostered innovation and improved service delivery. For example opening up the communication's sector to competition has been a major success with huge growth in the mobile phone sector, the number of mobile phone and subscribers has increased from just 3000 in 1996 to almost 1 million in 2004 and 1.4 million by September 2005.

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