Uganda urged to turn Tenfold Growth plans into results

KAMPALA. Uganda must now move from identifying barriers to economic growth to implementing reforms and investments that deliver measurable results, the Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury, Mr Ramathan Ggoobi, has said.

Mr Ggoobi made the call on Thursday while speaking at the 10th Economic Growth Forum in Kampala, where he said the annual forum had helped government and its development partners identify key constraints to economic growth and develop evidence-based responses.

He said when the Economic Growth Forum was launched in 2017, Uganda was grappling with declining economic growth, which constrained domestic revenue mobilisation, public investment and funding for other national priorities.

The forum was established to bring together researchers, policymakers and practitioners to examine economic evidence, debate policy options and inform government decisions.

According to Mr Ggoobi, recommendations from the first nine forums have increasingly been incorporated into government policy and implementation, particularly in revenue mobilisation, public investment, trade and export competitiveness, urbanisation, and climate resilience.

He cited digitalisation of tax administration, improvements in the appraisal and selection of public investment projects, expanded trade facilitation systems and the establishment of institutions to support climate finance and green growth as some of the reforms influenced by the discussions.

Mr Ggoobi said Uganda had also restored economic growth to above six per cent, demonstrating the economy’s resilience following major disruptions, including the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, he cautioned that restoring growth was only the first step, saying the next challenge was to improve its quality and speed.

“The test now is whether we can do it faster, at scale and with measurable results,” he said.

Productivity push

Mr Ggoobi said the government’s Tenfold Growth ambition requires a shift towards higher productivity, increased private investment, higher-value exports, better-paying jobs and deeper structural transformation.

He said the challenge in public investment was no longer primarily the absence of systems, but ensuring that existing systems were consistently enforced.

Government, he added, would increasingly prioritise project readiness, lifecycle financing and measurable outputs and outcomes rather than simply measuring how much money has been spent.

The emphasis marks a shift from focusing on budget absorption to ensuring that public expenditure translates into completed projects and tangible improvements in citizens’ lives.

On trade, Mr Ggoobi said Uganda’s export basket was expanding and becoming more diversified, while reforms such as the Uganda Electronic Single Window and the Single Customs Territory had helped reduce some of the costs and delays associated with cross-border trade.

The next challenge, he said, is to turn these improvements into more competitive Ugandan businesses, more exporters and higher-value products.

Climate finance

Mr Ggoobi also highlighted climate change as an increasingly important component of Uganda’s economic strategy.

He said government was developing the institutional and regulatory framework required to integrate climate resilience into fiscal policy, public investment and economic competitiveness.

However, he said Uganda needs to mobilise more domestic and private capital and develop bankable projects capable of attracting climate finance.

As the country enters what he described as the next phase of its growth journey, Mr Ggoobi outlined five priorities.

These are broadening the revenue base and deepening tax compliance; funding fewer but better-prepared and higher-return public projects; building competitive exporters and suppliers; turning urbanisation into a source of productivity and jobs; and making green growth and climate resilience investable.

He said the first nine editions of the Economic Growth Forum had helped Uganda understand what needed to be done to accelerate growth.

The challenge now, he said, is implementation.

Uganda’s Tenfold Growth ambition, Mr Ggoobi said, will not be achieved by developing another strategy, but by converting evidence into action and action into measurable results.