Export receipts up by 12%
Oct 09, 2007
EXPORT earnings for the last financial year rose by 12% to $2.4b (sh4,200b) from $1.5b (sh2,625b) in 2005. But President Yoweri Museveni said this was still too little from a population of 31 million people.
By Macrines Nyapendi
EXPORT earnings for the last financial year rose by 12% to $2.4b (sh4,200b) from $1.5b (sh2,625b) in 2005. But President Yoweri Museveni said this was still too little from a population of 31 million people.
“It is very embarrassing and shameful that the whole 31 million people can only export goods worth $2.4b,†Museveni said.
He, however, praised the private sector, saying they had excelled in spite of the Government’s red tape and bureaucrats who frustrate them, thinking they are doing investors a favour.
“Some members of the Seventh Parliament are responsible for some of the bottlenecks in the export chain for example power supply,†he added.
According to the Uganda Export Promotion Board boss, Florence Kata, formal exports fetched $962m, an 18% increase from $812m in 2005.
Informal cross-border trade fetched $231.7m up from $200m. Estimates indicate that services exports rose by 20% to $507.2m from $422.8m the previous year.
Kata said remittances from Ugandans abroad (kyeyo) fetched $731m, which brought the total value of exports to over $2b.
She, however, said Uganda’s trade deficit still remains high.
EXPORT earnings for the last financial year rose by 12% to $2.4b (sh4,200b) from $1.5b (sh2,625b) in 2005. But President Yoweri Museveni said this was still too little from a population of 31 million people.
“It is very embarrassing and shameful that the whole 31 million people can only export goods worth $2.4b,†Museveni said.
He, however, praised the private sector, saying they had excelled in spite of the Government’s red tape and bureaucrats who frustrate them, thinking they are doing investors a favour.
“Some members of the Seventh Parliament are responsible for some of the bottlenecks in the export chain for example power supply,†he added.
According to the Uganda Export Promotion Board boss, Florence Kata, formal exports fetched $962m, an 18% increase from $812m in 2005.
Informal cross-border trade fetched $231.7m up from $200m. Estimates indicate that services exports rose by 20% to $507.2m from $422.8m the previous year.
Kata said remittances from Ugandans abroad (kyeyo) fetched $731m, which brought the total value of exports to over $2b.
She, however, said Uganda’s trade deficit still remains high.