Foreign investors hindering middle income status - Prof Nuwagaba

Makerere University don Prof. Augustine Nuwagaba has warned that Uganda cannot achieve middle income status if the economy is dominated by foreigners.

Prof Nuwaga said the major drivers of Uganda's economy are banking and telecommunications which are mainly foreign owned and they repatriate their profits.

"If you look at what is driving the Ugandan economy, it's simply telecoms and banking which are basically the service sectors" he pointed out.

Nuwagaba added that there is need for government intervention in sectors like banking to ensure that potential investors are not exploited by commercial banks with high interest rates as the case is now.

"They are owned by foreigners who don't have organic sentiment that this is their country so why would they bother? If it was a sector which is organically developed then the issue of interest rates would be addressed" Nuwagaba added.

"I haven't encountered a country for over the last 600 years which hasn't transformed its economy without using indigenous resource financing including South Korea" he added.