President Museveni has said in a few years to come, Uganda will be among the superpowers of the world.
Addressing the nation on Thursday evening, Museveni said the past 38 years of NRM leaders, the country has continued to grow by leaps and bounds.
“The recent two mega conferences of NAM and G-77 plus China, demonstrated a bit of this. A delegate from Russia, a deputy minister, told me that only the superpowers can organize such a conference. Uganda is still on the way but it will soon be there, because the base is already laid,” Museveni said.
He explained that NAM and G77 plus China summits saw Uganda host 1918 delegates from 129 countries, 16 presidents, nine vice president, 16 prime ministers and seven special category, coming into Uganda by airlines and 32 private jets.
“These countries have 6.6 billion people which 80% of the human race. More importantly, look at the facilities we built partly for this occasion but in order to improve the infrastructure of the country – some of them built in one year.”
“Look at the new terminal built by the UPDF Engineering Brigade and the conference centre built by Sudhir’s company, using government money.There is nothing we cannot do. It is just a question of priotization. Some people always talk about the potholes of Kampala. They should also talk about the good up country roads – from Kisoro to Nimule, Busia-Busuunga in Bundibugyo.”
Economic outlook
Museveni said despite the effects of climate change on agriculture and our infrastructure by the floods, the conflict in Eastern Europe, which led to a rise in the prices of some strategic commodities such as oil and the recent rise in interest rates globally, which made access to capital very expensive, the economy has continued to expand.
He noted the economy grew to shs 184.89 trillion ($ 49.5 billion) in the financial year 2022/2023, up from shs162,750 billion ($ 45.6 billion) registered in 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 the financial year 2022/23 and 2021/22, 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 said Uganda’s economic outlook is very optimistic, 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 as well as the swift and comprehensive response to the impact of the previous health crises and the regional geopolitical security issues.
He noted that the size of the economy will grow from shs 184.3 trillion in financial year 2022/23 to shs 204.9 trillion (USD 55 billion) by end of financial year 2023/24 and then leap to shs 225.5 trillion in financial year 2024/25 (equivalent to USD 60 billion).
“This growth, will be driven by 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 and gas sector; continued recovery in tourism; growth in regional trade including in the EAC, COMESA and globally.”
