Country profile Uganda 2015

Abstract

Since 1990, Uganda has made good progress in terms of reducing the number of people living in poverty. The proportion of the population living below the poverty line declined from 50.1 per cent in 1995 to 19.7 per cent (6.7 million people) in 2013. Nevertheless, Uganda faces a number of challenges. One is maintaining fiscal stability despite growing pressures to increase spending on basic infrastructure and maintain social provision. Second, there is a need to revitalize the private sector, which is currently hampered by a non-conducive business environment, with restricted access to credit at affordable rates. A third challenge is the need to increase agricultural productivity. Policies that could boost the country’s agricultural productivity include reforming the land tenure system, improving farming technologies, enforcing existing regulations on fertilizer standards and creating public-private partnerships to increase investment in irrigation systems. In addition, the development of agricultural value chains would enhance the process of structural transformation and create employment opportunities. The present document provides an update to the 2015 Uganda country profile, with a particular focus on the recently released annual data for 2015.