Publication date: Wednesday, 21st October, 2009
Remittances from Ugandans abroad rose 37 percent to $748 million in the 2008/09 (July-June) year after slumping during the previous year due to the global economic slowdown, a parliamentary report said on Wednesday.
Funds from Ugandans living in the diaspora are an important source of hard currency for the east Africa nation, alongside exports of commodities like coffee, tea, flowers and cotton.
The report said remittances totalled $546 million in financial year 2007/08, and while they had rebounded strongly from those levels, they remained well below the record of $1.3 billion estimated to have been received in 2006/07.
Analysts say remittance levels are notoriously hard to calculate precisely given poor reporting and collection, numerous money transfer agencies and other capacity issues.
The parliamentary report added that foreign direct investment (FDI) in Uganda had not been hit too hard by the global slowdown, falling just 5.4 percent to $736.4 million in 2008/09 compared with the previous fiscal year. But it cautioned that a more protracted global downturn combined with delays resolving the global financial crisis could put future FDI flows at risk.
The landlocked country's economic growth is expected to decline to 6 percent in 2009/10 from 7 percent the year before and 9 percent in 2007/08 due to reduced inflows, less demand for its exports and slowing remittances.
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