The Ugandan government has unveiled a 593-trillion-shilling (160-billion-dollar) national development plan aimed at investments in value addition, industrialization, and other key sectors at the centre of its implementation.
The National Development Plan 4 (NDPIV) seeks to sustainably grow the economy by double digits, maintain macroeconomic stability, create more jobs, and raise resources to address the critical infrastructure deficit and social expenditures.
The strategy, whose goal is “to achieve higher household incomes, full monetization of the economy, and employment for sustainable socio-economic transformation”,” runs under the theme “Sustainable Industrialisation for Inclusive Growth, Employment, and Wealth Creation”.”
While presenting the new strategy to parliament, the State Minister for Planning, Amos Lugolobi said it is the first of three five-year NDPs that will deliver the country’s ten-fold economic growth to 500 billion dollars from the current 53 billion dollars by in 2040, with value addition and industrialization playing pivotal roles.
Minister Bugolobi said: “This is expected to be achieved by doubling the size of the economy every five years. It is anticipated that by the financial year 2029/30, the country would be enjoying a double-digit economic growth of 10.13 percent annually”.
According to Bugolobi, attainment of the ten-fold growth strategy will require investment in five key growth areas:
Agro-Industry;
Tourism;
Mining and Mineral Beneficiation;
Oil and Gas Development;
Knowledge Economy (driven by Science, Technology, and Innovation);
Information and Communication Technology; and
Finance
The NDPIV is expected to yield an annual average of 884,962 direct jobs, while the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is also expected to reach 2,942 dollars.
The strategy’s specific macroeconomic objectives include: reducing poverty to 10.1 percent in the financial year 2029/30, down from the 2019/20 figure of 20.3 percent; attaining a double-digit growth of 10.1 percent in the financial year 2029/30, up from six percent in 2023/24; and creating an average of 884,962 direct jobs annually over the NDPIV period.
The strategy also aims to maintain price stability marked by single-digit inflation within the target band of between five percent and six percent and contain the debt-to-GDP ratio and fiscal deficit below 50 percent in present value terms.
The plan also aims to increase the revenue-to-GDP ratio to 18.3 percent in 2029/30, up from 13.7 percent in 2023/24.
Increasing urbanization and tourism development are expected to open up job opportunities in the real estate sector, financial services sector, and in accommodation and food service sectors.
The plan will also look at the full monetization of the economy through various wealth-creation initiatives including the Parish Development Model (PDM) and Emyooga, amongst others.
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