‘Oil money for roads, science’
Mar 16, 2010
OIL revenues will not be spent on consumption, but will be used to finance construction of infrastructure to spur economic growth, President Yoweri Museveni has re-affirmed.
By Sylvia Juuko
OIL revenues will not be spent on consumption, but will be used to finance construction of infrastructure to spur economic growth, President Yoweri Museveni has re-affirmed.
“We shall study Norway’s model and get some of its useful elements. We need a hybrid of our own. The danger is using money to fund consumption like importing whiskey, cars or perfumes. The money will fund infrastructure like railway, roads and science education.â€
The President was launching a book “Uganda’s economic reforms; An insider’s account,†at the Serena Kampala Hotel over the weekend.
The book was written by government officials, who were at the heart of the reforms, including the Central Bank governor, Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, Louis Kasekende, the deputy governor and the commissioner in charge of budget policy, Kenneth Mugambe. Others were Justin Zake, Alan Whitworth and Tim Williamson.
Museveni added that the Government would not let the oil money undermine other exports like it has been experienced elsewhere.
“This was part of the problem Nigeria had. Oil revenues caused exchange rate appreciation. We shall not allow that.â€
The President did not have kind words for the international donors for what he termed as “wasting time teaching me governance issues.â€
“I thank development partners for their contribution. But they should focus on other issues. “What I need is electricity and railways. Governance is a red herring, that’s what we fought for, governance in Africa. That’s why we were in Mozambique, so no one can tell me about governance,†said the President.
He said ignoring infrastructural development during the economic reforms era was an oversight and called on donors to fund rail and road projects to link the East African Community states.
“If donors want to help Africa, why don’t they fund railways linking East African with the DR Congo and Southern Sudan?â€
He said the Government would fund power generation if the donors were not willing to come on board.
He revealed that the energy fund currently had $350m, which would be used to construct dams.
“We took over 10 years haggling over a dam. Are the donors interested in developing Africa? The US has 14,000 kilowatt hours per capita. In Uganda it is 60. That is scandalous,†he said.
Museveni said Uganda would in future produce nuclear power stations from the high deposits of uranium in the country.
Mutebile said the theme of the book was about the relevance of economic policy to economic development outcomes.
He noted that economic policy was very important to Africa because despite improvements in the 2000s, they remained poor and under developed.
He noted that Uganda’s success story hinges on a two decade long consistent economic policies. Responding to Mutebile’s concern over the risk of the fast rising population growth, Museveni said he had no apologies for the high rates.
“I am not panicking about population. Our GDP per capita is about $500 despite of the tripling population of the current 31 million, from 14 million in 1986. Mutebile is right that if population growth was lower we would have been a middle income country. Fertility rates will decline with universal education,†he asserted.
Museveni said one of the most important reforms was allowing the private sector to create wealth. This he said created a telecommunication revolution, attracted investors to the education and transport sector and improved revenue collection.
He suggested government intervention in areas that were not attractive to the private sector due to low rates of return. “We are not talking of a policy reversal but we should have indicative parastatals that move into areas that are shunned by the private sector.â€
Governor Mutebile said the theme of the book was about the relevance of economic policy to economic development outcomes. He noted that economic policy was very important to Africa because despite improvements in the 2000s, they remained poor and under developed.
He noted that Uganda’s success story hinges on a two decade long consistent economic policies. “While there have been revisions to policy, there has not been any policy reversals which is important for investor confidence. It’s important for government to commit itself almost permanently,†he said.
Mutebile highlighted the reforms that had taken place over the past decades including liberalization of the exchange rate, privatization, currency reform, structural reforms to improve resource allocation among others.
He noted that the reforms propelled Uganda to have one of the fastest growing that averaged 7 percent over two decades.
According to Mutebile, while Uganda has performed on the macroeconomic front, the future challenge was management of oil revenues.
“Just like we became a model on macroeconomic management, we must become a model on management of oil reserves,†h e said.
OIL revenues will not be spent on consumption, but will be used to finance construction of infrastructure to spur economic growth, President Yoweri Museveni has re-affirmed.
“We shall study Norway’s model and get some of its useful elements. We need a hybrid of our own. The danger is using money to fund consumption like importing whiskey, cars or perfumes. The money will fund infrastructure like railway, roads and science education.â€
The President was launching a book “Uganda’s economic reforms; An insider’s account,†at the Serena Kampala Hotel over the weekend.
The book was written by government officials, who were at the heart of the reforms, including the Central Bank governor, Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, Louis Kasekende, the deputy governor and the commissioner in charge of budget policy, Kenneth Mugambe. Others were Justin Zake, Alan Whitworth and Tim Williamson.
Museveni added that the Government would not let the oil money undermine other exports like it has been experienced elsewhere.
“This was part of the problem Nigeria had. Oil revenues caused exchange rate appreciation. We shall not allow that.â€
The President did not have kind words for the international donors for what he termed as “wasting time teaching me governance issues.â€
“I thank development partners for their contribution. But they should focus on other issues. “What I need is electricity and railways. Governance is a red herring, that’s what we fought for, governance in Africa. That’s why we were in Mozambique, so no one can tell me about governance,†said the President.
He said ignoring infrastructural development during the economic reforms era was an oversight and called on donors to fund rail and road projects to link the East African Community states.
“If donors want to help Africa, why don’t they fund railways linking East African with the DR Congo and Southern Sudan?â€
He said the Government would fund power generation if the donors were not willing to come on board.
He revealed that the energy fund currently had $350m, which would be used to construct dams.
“We took over 10 years haggling over a dam. Are the donors interested in developing Africa? The US has 14,000 kilowatt hours per capita. In Uganda it is 60. That is scandalous,†he said.
Museveni said Uganda would in future produce nuclear power stations from the high deposits of uranium in the country.
Mutebile said the theme of the book was about the relevance of economic policy to economic development outcomes.
He noted that economic policy was very important to Africa because despite improvements in the 2000s, they remained poor and under developed.
He noted that Uganda’s success story hinges on a two decade long consistent economic policies. Responding to Mutebile’s concern over the risk of the fast rising population growth, Museveni said he had no apologies for the high rates.
“I am not panicking about population. Our GDP per capita is about $500 despite of the tripling population of the current 31 million, from 14 million in 1986. Mutebile is right that if population growth was lower we would have been a middle income country. Fertility rates will decline with universal education,†he asserted.
Museveni said one of the most important reforms was allowing the private sector to create wealth. This he said created a telecommunication revolution, attracted investors to the education and transport sector and improved revenue collection.
He suggested government intervention in areas that were not attractive to the private sector due to low rates of return. “We are not talking of a policy reversal but we should have indicative parastatals that move into areas that are shunned by the private sector.â€
Governor Mutebile said the theme of the book was about the relevance of economic policy to economic development outcomes. He noted that economic policy was very important to Africa because despite improvements in the 2000s, they remained poor and under developed.
He noted that Uganda’s success story hinges on a two decade long consistent economic policies. “While there have been revisions to policy, there has not been any policy reversals which is important for investor confidence. It’s important for government to commit itself almost permanently,†he said.
Mutebile highlighted the reforms that had taken place over the past decades including liberalization of the exchange rate, privatization, currency reform, structural reforms to improve resource allocation among others.
He noted that the reforms propelled Uganda to have one of the fastest growing that averaged 7 percent over two decades.
According to Mutebile, while Uganda has performed on the macroeconomic front, the future challenge was management of oil revenues.
“Just like we became a model on macroeconomic management, we must become a model on management of oil reserves,†h e said.