Gov’t unveils new strategies as NDP II misses key targets

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Enhancing value addition in Agriculture, Tourism, Minerals, Oil and Gas and human capital development have been outlined as the new strategic areas for boosting the development of the country over the next five years.

Additional focus will be put on strengthening the private sector to drive growth and create jobs as well as consolidating and increasing the stock and quality of productive Infrastructure.

The strategies are contained in pillars of the third phase of the National Development Plan which cabinet approved early this month after the second phase of the National Development Plan missed its mark.

State Minister for Finance David Bahati says the despite missing its set targets due to delays in planning, droughts and other challenges, the second National Development plan whose implementation started in 2011 delivered many milestones including the double expansion of the size of the economy from 46.9 to 109.9 Trillion Shillings between 2011 and 2019 in nominal terms.

Bahati says implementation of the second phase has nearly doubled the volume of exports of goods and services from USD 3.8 Billion to USD 5.4 Billion between 2011 and 2017 compared to just 347 Million US Dollars in the 1986 base year.

He says that the Cabinet is convinced that the approved strategies will sustain the economic development recorded during the implementation of the second phase of the National Development Plan (NDP-II).

According to Bahati, the strategies will be achieved by among others, amending the regulation of the National Development Planning Authority to require all government agencies to get their development plans approved by the authority before their budget is approved by parliament.

Bahati was unveiling a new cabinet report on the Implementation of the Second Phase of the National Development Plan (NDP-II) to the Media in Kampala on Tuesday. The report indicates that personal remittances from the diaspora grew from USD 751.4 in 2011 to USD 1,24.7 in 2018, an equivalent of 23.2 per cent of the total exports of goods and services in 2018.

The figures also indicate that Uganda’s gross domestic product (GDP) has increased 12 times over the last 21 years from 9.5 Trillion in 1996 to 114 Uganda Shillings in 2018.

According to David Bahati, the Country’s GDP per capita also registered impressive growth by 16.4 per cent from 709 USD to 825 USD despite a significant population increase from 31.2 million people in 2011 to 40.3 Million people in June 2019.

The report shows that life expectancy increased by up to 20 years from 43 years in 1991 to 63.3 years in 2016. Bahati says the goal of the third phase of the National Development Plan will centre on Increasing household incomes and improving the quality of life in order to further boost life expectancy upward.

Implementation of the third phase of the National Development Plan will commence in June 2020. Pamela Mbabazi, the Executive Director of the National Planning Authority says that the unique improvement to be delivered by the third phase of the development plan is better coordination between agencies.

Asuman Guloba, the Director of Development Planning says the government will also focus on reduction of poverty where droughts reversed the figures such as in Eastern Uganda and Karamoja through mitigation of Climate Change.

The Plan shows that the government has set aside 400 billion shillings of the establishment of solar-driven irrigation schemes around the country to mitigate the adverse impacts of Climate Change.

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