Uganda’s economy fully recovers, GDP to grow by 6% in 2024/25

Uganda’s economy has made a full recovery from internal and external shocks, with a projected GDP growth rate of 6% in the 2024/25 financial year, according to Mr. Matia Kasaija, Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.

“The economy has fully recovered from the various internal and external shocks that impacted performance in the past four years,” said Kasaija. “GDP is projected to grow by 6 percent this financial year, surpassing Sub-Saharan Africa’s average of 3.8 percent and the global average of 2.9 percent.”

The theme of the budget, “Full Monetisation of Uganda’s Economy through Commercial Agriculture, Industrialisation, Expanding and Broadening Services, Digital Transformation and Market Access,” aims to consolidate the gains achieved in the past year and set the foundation for implementing the government’s strategy to expand the size of Uganda’s GDP from $50 billion to $500 billion by 2040.

“The theme of this budget is aimed at consolidating the gains we have made and setting the foundation for our strategy to expand our GDP to $500 billion by 2040,” said Kasaija. “We are committed to ensuring that our economy grows inclusively and sustainably.”

The economy has shown impressive growth, with a 6% growth rate in the 2023/24 financial year, driven by the services sector, which expanded by 6.6%, followed by industry at 5.8% and agriculture at 5.1%.

“Agriculture’s performance, estimated to have expanded at 5.1 percent this year, is attributed to streamlined implementation of the Parish Development Model (PDM) and fairly good weather conditions,” said Kasaija.

The government’s efforts to promote export-led growth have yielded positive results, with exports increasing by 34% to $7.471 billion in the year ending April 2024.

“Our export promotion strategy has continued to produce positive results, with exports increasing by 34 percent to $7.471 billion in the year ending April 2024,” said Kasaija. “This is a testament to our commitment to promoting economic growth and job creation.”

The budget also highlights the government’s commitment to job creation, with various initiatives such as the Presidential Initiative on Jobs and Wealth Creation (Emyooga) and the Youth Livelihood Programme creating thousands of jobs.

“Job creation is a top priority for our government, and we are committed to ensuring that our economy creates decent jobs for our citizens,” said Kasaija. “Our initiatives such as Emyooga and the Youth Livelihood Programme have created thousands of jobs and we will continue to support these initiatives.”

The fiscal deficit has reduced to 4.5% of GDP, and domestic revenue is projected to increase to Shs 31.982 trillion in the 2024/25 financial year, equivalent to 14.2% of GDP.

“We have made significant progress in reducing our fiscal deficit and increasing domestic revenue,” said Kasaija. “We will continue to implement fiscal consolidation measures to ensure that our economy grows sustainably.”