The Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury (PSST) Ramathan Ggoobi has said there is an urgent need to discover evidence-based solutions and interventions to accelerate economic growth.
While delivering a keynote address on Thursday, August 29, 2024, at the 8th High-Level Economic Growth Forum at the Serena Hotel, Kampala, Ggoobi emphasized the importance of grabbing chances and utilizing favorable environmental conditions to achieve structural transformation.
Ggoobi noted that Uganda’s economy showed remarkable resilience by attaining a growth rate of 6.0% in FY 2023/24, despite encountering global challenges such as tighter financial conditions and interruptions in the supply chain.
“This performance significantly surpasses the Sub-Saharan Africa average of 3.8% projected for 2024 and the global average of 3.2%,” Ggoobi said.
He said Uganda’s strong economic growth has been driven by infrastructure development, investment in human capital development, deliberate government programs for agriculture and agro-industrialization such as the Parish Development Model (PDM), and a conducive macroeconomic environment.
According to him, the Ministry of Finance has developed a plan to increase Uganda’s GDP from USD 50 billion to USD 500 billion by 2040, with a focus on four important areas: agro-industrialization, tourism, mineral development (oil and gas), and science, technology, and innovation (ATMS).
“The plan aims to double GDP every 5 years, raise per capita GDP from USD 1,146 to USD 7,000 by FY 2039/40, increase savings from 20% to 40% of GDP by 2040, raise the share of exports in GDP from 12% to 50%, and increase annual FDI inflows from USD 2.9 billion in 2022 to USD 50 billion by 2040,” Ggoobi added.
The 8th High-Level Economic Growth Forum is running under the theme “Seizing opportunities for structural transformation to increase production and resilience.”
