By Frank Kamuntu
Kampala, Entebbe: While addressing a televised NRM National Delegates Conference (NEC) at State House Entebbe, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has revealed that Uganda is swiftly approaching its target of attaining middle income status after an increment of per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is now standing at $908.
Download Full:President Museveni’s Speech
President Museveni noted that Uganda, since 1986, has not only achieved the minimum economic recovery but has also expanded 23 times in size from US$1.55billion to US$37.3billion in the last 34 years. With the PPP method, the GDP is US$106billion.
Museveni congratulated his counterpart John Pombe Magufuli the President of Tanzania, and his successors for achieving the Middle Income status and asserted that if it had not been the outbreak of corona virus pandemic that disturbed the last quarter of the last financial year, Uganda would have been even nearer to the dream of middle income status.
World Bank classifies countries with the Middle Income Status as those whose citizen’s average income is between USD 1,000 to 12,000. Based on the formula of how Middle Income Countries are determined, close to half of all African countries are in the middle income range.
Museveni added that due to COVID-19cconsequences, the problem of the a cute shortages of salt, sugar, soap, among others of 1986, have been replaced with the problem of surpluses of sugar-cane and sugar, milk and milk products, maize, bananas, cassava, a host of industrial products among others.
“The NRM will expand and deepen industrialization by producing the full range of primary and secondary industrial products that are economically viable, such as starch, cooking gas and industrial alcohol out of maize or industrial sugar out of chai sugar’ President said.
It should be noted that industrial sugar is used for coco- cola and therefore Museveni says the government will refine the chai sugar in order to get the coca-cola sugar (industrial sugar).
He said, “We are now crying about too much chai sugar when we are spending US$40million to import coca-cola sugar. This is being cured by Mayuge sugar importing machinery to produce industrial sugar.”
President added that the government is intensifying the fight against poverty by encouraging wealth creation.
Download Full: President Museveni’s Speech
