President Yoweri Museveni has predicted that the country’s economy will grow into double digits once oil production begins.
“After June this year, our economy will grow by 7.3% without oil. That’s a high growth speed, very few countries can achieve that. With oil, our rate of growth will go into double digits; more than 10%,” President Museveni said during the 44th Tarehe Sita Anniversary celebrations.
The President highlighted the country’s progress in coffee production, increasing from 2 million bags to 9 million bags. He emphasized the importance of value addition to Uganda’s products, particularly coffee.
President Museveni also directed the Ministry of Works and Finance and Planning to prioritize consolidating old roads before building new ones.
“We have done many roads in Uganda, but the people in the planning Ministry and that of the Ministry of works had made some mistakes. They build new roads and forget old ones. That scattered planning, we have stopped it,” he said.
The President’s remarks come as Uganda prepares to start producing oil in 2025. The country’s economy is projected to grow by over 10% in the coming years, driven by oil production and other sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing.
As a result of the country’s economic progress, President Museveni noted that Uganda’s economy will be $59.3 billion by June 2025, using the Foreign Exchange Method, but $168.5 billion by the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) method.
“The phases include minimum economic recovery by bringing back the 3Cs (Coffee, cotton, and copper) and 3Ts (Tobacco, Tea, and Tourism) of the colonial economy which Idi Amin destroyed, the second phase was to expand this small economy, that is why with coffee now, we are at 9 million bags, we used to be at 2 million bags. Phase three is to diversify the economy, phase four is adding value, and lastly, phase five, we have entered the knowledge economy which includes automobile and vaccines,” President Museveni explained.
