Private sector companies improve Uganda’s economy

By Namugerwa Martha

According to the survey, in the nine out of 10 months of data collected, there has been a recorded expansion in the economy and the recovery was seen in the agricultural, industry, services, wholesale and retail segments

This report was given during the Stanbic Bank Uganda Purchasers Managers Index (PMI) launch at Serena hotel in Kampala on Wednesday a new monthly index, which surveys business conditions in the country.

Ms Anne Juuko, the head of global markets said that Uganda’s private sector is recovering from the effects of the last election cycle and the global economic slowdown in the inaugural PMI report for Uganda.

“A survey of 400 private sector companies indicates that they are increasing output and production, with prospects for the economy recovering at 53.5 in March 2017, up from 50.9 in February 2017, the seasonally adjusted PMI pointed to further improvement in business conditions for private sector firms in March,” Juuko said.

Juuko added that Bank of Uganda (BoU) projects the economy to struggle to reach 4.5 per cent growth in 2016/17 and the optimism from business leaders in the private sector.

“Most of this, according to BoU is a factor of adverse weather conditions and low economic activity in the six months to December 2016,” Juuko added.

However, according to Patrick Mweheire, the Stanbic Bank Uganda chief executive officer said that the trend being seen in the economy is that the second half of the financial year is showing signs of recovery in the business environment.

“There are a number of things in the economy showing that the economy is trying to cool. When you look at private sector credit, it is improving. We believe that that is going to improvement investment in the economy,” Mweheire said.

Additionally, Chris Mukiza, the director macro-economic statistics at the Uganda Bureau Statistics said: “More optimism is from the improving weather conditions in the economy.”