President Museveni this afternoon addressed Parliament and Uganda on the state of nation. In his address, the President said the path to middle income status was now in reach and that the country would attain the status sooner than expected.
“I hear so many people talk about the attainment of the middle-income status by Uganda. The main problem here is, actually, the problem of Uganda importing too much and exporting little. The GDP per capita today is US$776. To become a middle income country, you need, at least, US$1,006 per capita. This money is calculated in Dollars. Too much importing and too little exporting undermines the progress to a middle-income status. Therefore, Ugandans, please, buy Ugandan; travel Ugandan; health-wise, be treated in Uganda. The government will facilitate its part as outlines in this speech”
“The fact that our economy would grow fast, however, was not surprising for me given the deliberate steps we have taken to lay the foundation” Museveni said.
The President added“When we say that the economy is growing reasonably well, we mean that the four sectors are growing well. Indeed, industry grew at 6.2% per annum, services at 7.3%, ICT at 7.9% and agriculture at 3.2%. As you can see, it is only agriculture that is still growing slowly. Fortunately, we have or will soon have the necessary boosters for agriculture. These will be the use of fertilizers by more Ugandan farmers than at present and the farmers will use more irrigation. In the coming financial year, the Government will work on the following irrigation schemes using the government budget”
One of the stimuli for faster economic growth, is the low cost of doing business in the economy. “With the refinancing of Bujagali and a better deal for managing the transmission of electricity, we shall achieve the low cost of electricity per unit, added to the low cost of money mentioned above. That leaves the low cost of transport as our next target”The President concluded.
