The newly appointed Minister of Finance Hon. Matia Kasaija has said that government plans to start procuring its requirements from local manufacturers in a deliberate effort to support local investors and the economy. Speaking at the annual Investor of the Year awards at Hotel Africana on Friday, the Minister Kasaija reiterated President Museveni’s recent remark that Uganda must stop being a ‘supermarket’ of foreign manufactured products.
The Minister urged manufacturers in Uganda to exhaust the local market before exporting their products but clarified that this was not intended to discourage cross border trade.
“We initiated the ‘Buy Uganda Build Uganda campaign years ago whose aim is to enable us support the local producers. Cabinet has resolved that all dress requirements for the army and police will be procured from local manufacturers. And this will equally apply to other materials as long as they meet the quality we need,” the Finance Minister revealed.
He said regular forums will be held between government and investors so as to discuss issues affecting the industry.
Manufacturers have often decried the extreme liberalization of the economy claiming it has frustrated their investment as a result of monopoly of foreign products on the local market. They had pushed for incentives from government as a way of protection from foreign competition.
Hon. Evelyn Anite who is the new State Minister of Finance for Investment and Privatization said that government is heavily relying on investors in its endeavor to propel the econmy into middle income status by 2020.
“We plan to establish five industrial parks each year so as to make it easy for you to do business in Uganda,” she told a gathering of investors who attended the gala at Hotel Africana.