Uganda posts $14m trade deficit

Sep 27, 2009

UGANDA'S balance of payments recorded a $14.7m deficit in July due mostly to fewer informal cross-border exports, the central bank said on Friday.

UGANDA'S balance of payments recorded a $14.7m deficit in July due mostly to fewer informal cross-border exports, the central bank said on Friday.

The Bank of Uganda has forecast the balance of payments in Uganda will run a deficit of $134.77m in 2009/10, following a $21.84m deficit the previous financial year.

In July, exports were recorded at $307.1m versus imports valued at $321.8m. This is a reverse of the trade surplus Uganda has recorded since April on the back of a boost in informal cross-border trade.

Solome Lumala, the bank’s deputy director of research, said informal cross border exports fell by 15.7% to $188.7m in July compared to the previous month.
“This is on account of decline in both industrial and agricultural commodities exports,” she told.

Total exports stood at $307.1m in July 2009, up from $222.6m a year ago, the bank said. Imports dropped 8.6% to $321.8m versus July 2008.

Private sector imports accounted for $290.5m of the total in July, down from $299.8m the previous month.

Foreign exchange reserves increased in July to $2.57b, or 5.4 months of imports of goods and services, from $2.44b or 5.1 months in June, the bank said.

Reuters

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