The Executive Director of the International Growth Centre (IGC), also an associate professor of economics has underscored the need for increased domestic revenue mobilization in Uganda’s economy to ensure sustained growth.
Dr. Jonathan Leape made the remarks during his presentation at the opening of a 2-day 7th high-level economic growth forum held in Kampala on Thursday.
He says this will reduce the public debt and reliance on donor funds. His remarks come at a time when the World Bank has suspended new loan deals to Uganda.
Mobilising government revenue is essential to finance, public services and public investment to reduce the public debt and to reduce reliance on development assistance over time,” Leape said.
In his opening remarks during the event, the Secretary to the Treasury, Ramathan Ggoobi noted that discussions in the forum will inform policy implementation, budget planning, and investment plans.
“As you are all aware, we have arrested the inflation and reduced it to below the target. This has happened not because of good luck. It has reduced due to our well-coordinated policies that targeted the causes and addressed them,” Ggoobi said.
He has meanwhile commended stakeholders for remarkable economic resilience despite challenges. He says this is witnessed by the decline in Uganda’s headline inflation down below target.