UNEVEN UGANDA

DISTRIBUTION MORE THAN GROWTH

Even as the ghoulish Idi Amin regime and dreaded civil wars recede to history, the quagmire of economic backwardness has slowly and steadily drained Uganda of its vitality, despite having considerable natural resources of fertile soil and deposits of Copper and Cobalt. But creditably, Uganda made remarkable progress during the last decade of the 20th century. Return of exiled Indian entrepreneurs, high international coffee prices, as well as stress on stabilisation, human development and most importantly, domestic security were reasoned to be behind the turnaround. The average income in Uganda started growing by 5% a year, overall poverty fell from 56% to 34%, and primary school enrolment rose very positively from 5.3 to 7.6 million.

However, the recent crash of global coffee prices, rampant corruption, high inequality (Gini coefficient rose from 34 to 42 in 1997); and the further involvement in Congolese civil war, made Uganda slip down to qualify for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries debt relief of $1.3 billion in 2000. Effective broadening of the distributive set up for small farmers & entrepreneurs, together with micro-level investments aimed at creating a manufacturing base, is strongly recommended along with sufficient international support to prevent the slippage of another African country into the oblivion of poverty, chaos and anarchy

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Source:- IIPM-Business and Economy, Editor- Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri - 2006