Speaking at a ceremony yesterday to commemorate the 36th anniversary of the NRM’s rise to state power, President Yoweri Museveni said Uganda’s GDP has grown by 31 times since 1986.
That is not accurate.
Uganda’s economy, was $4.2 billion in Jan. 1986 when the NRM came to power.
Adjusted for inflation, that’s $10.6 billion in Dec. 2021 dollars. Uganda’s GDP in late 2021 was $32.5 billion.
So Uganda’s economy or GDP has grown by three times since 1986, NOT 31 times as President Museveni said.
If Uganda’s GDP had grown by 31 times since 1986, today Uganda would be Africa’s second-largest economy, behind only Nigeria and South Africa would be in third place.
Interestingly, Uganda’s GDP per capita was $241.75 in 1985, the year before the NRM came to power.
Adjusted for inflation in 2022 dollars, that’s $614 per capita.
Today, Jan. 2022, Uganda’s per capita GDP is 897.
So, over the past three and a half decades, Uganda’s GDP per capita (the income per citizen) has not grown very much.
This might explain the common view among ordinary people that they hear of all this impressive economic growth but don’t feel it in their pockets.
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