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Finance ministry permanent secretary Ramathan Ggoobi has pledged the Government’s support to local producers to add value to their raw materials.

“I want to assure Ugandans that we are going to support our local producers to add value to the raw materials we now have in plenty, agriculture, minerals, and also the service sector like tourism,” said on Thursday, March 28, 2024.

Ggoobi, who is also the Secretary to the Treasury, made the remarks during a morning talk-show on one of the local TV stations.

He noted that as the Government, they have invested heavily in value addition in the recent past.

“Uganda is changing in terms of the contribution of manufacturing and industrial produce to our GDP (gross domestic product). In East Africa, we are now a net exporter. We exported over and above what we imported among our peers,” he said.

Ggoobi, a seasoned economist, also said Uganda has seen the trade deficit decrease.

“This is now the imports minus the exports. That deficit had gone up, but it reduced by 30% in February from $270m to $188m. This is because we are now importing less,” he said.

Museveni’s priority

Engineer Sheba Kyobutunji from State House told New Vision Online in November 2022 that value addition is a key priority for President Yoweri Museveni and the Government.

“By value addition, we mean producing finished products that are packed and ready for consumption in the market. When we add value to our products, we are able to earn more from selling them as finished products than as raw products or materials,” she said.

This, Kyobutunji noted, explains how other countries have been able to become transformed even when they do not produce their own materials.

“But to be able to add value to, for example, farm produce, you need to know how to do it, you need to have the right tools and equipment, you need to consider the business aspects such as the market linkages (local and international), the institutional linkages, and many other factors that shape your success as a value added producer,” she said.

She also noted that the move to double efforts in industrialization comes at a time when President Museveni has decried the colossal loss of revenue to foreign manufacturers who buy Uganda’s raw materials at a pittance only to return finished products to sell at exorbitant prices.

The President has been complaining about Africa’s combined gross domestic product being far less than Japan’s because of its failure to add value to its products for sale.