Uganda’s economy will hit $500billion before 2040,President Yoweri Museveni has revealed.
Officiating at the 2024/2025 national budget of shs 72trillion, Museveni said Ugandan economy has not only grown from $1.5 billion in 1986 to now $55 billion by the exchange rate method but to $180 billion by the PPP method.
“Our GDP is now two times the size of the South African economy when Mzee Mandela took over the leadership of that country in 1994.In the next few years, not the 2040 vision, we shall catapult the economy to the size of $500 billion,” Museveni said.
“By adding value to coffee, maize, forest products, minerals, etc., our economy will grow exponentially. We have the electricity and we shall continue expanding the generation and the transmission. The private sector is the main engine of growth and transformation, “he added.
Finance Minister Matia Kasaija said government will provide a total of Shs1.059 trillion for the Parish Development Model to uplift the household incomes countrywide.
The allocation of the Shs1.5trillion means every parish in Uganda shall receive an additional Shs100 million for the PDM programme, which Kasaija said has now been fully rolled out across almost every parish in the country.
“Country men and women under this category, take full advantage of the PDM and other wealth creation funds as well as other support services to join the money economy in any of the four sectors – commercial agriculture, industry, services, or ICT,” said Kasaija.
“A total of Shs2.4 trillion has so far been provided. The money is being transferred directly to the beneficiaries in 10,585 parishes across the country. The introduction of the WENDI Application, by the Government-owned Post Bank and its partners, has saved beneficiaries the inconvenience of travelling long distances to open up bank accounts or withdraw their money,” he added.
