Parliamentary budget offices are meant to be watchmen that help parliamentarians by providing them with solid budget analysis. They are supposed to provide honest budget numbers based on nonpartisan evaluations. To do this they must maintain a pristine reputation free from corruption, political dealings or criminal activity.
The World Bank announced this week that it has suspended all road projects that it has funded in Uganda. The announcement came after the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) failed to meet certain social and environmental standards that the bank imposed as conditions of receiving the funding.
Uganda’s economy has been growing steadily over the past decade. Like many other developing countries, its growth has benefited from a confluence of external events, including a sustained increase in commodity prices and partial debt relief.
Uganda’s economy expanded 0.3 percent from January to March, which is considered the nation’s third quarter of the fiscal year. The government expects 5.8 percent growth for the year, an uptick from previous growth of 5.3 percent.
The true state of Uganda’s economy has been under some debate for a while now, as government officials struggle to assess its health. Some observers believe that the economy is crumbling slowly, with unemployment rates growing, businesses closing, and a sharp fall in government revenues.
Private clinics in Uganda’s capital of Kampala are selling off bogus HIV negative test results in order to help people secure jobs, reported the BBC on Thursday, calling into question recent government campaigns promoting their successful fight against the disease.
During an undercover investigation held at 15 clinics, 12 were willing to give out fake negative results with a bribe of $20.
Uganda is a lower-income economy comes under the Sub Saharan African region, as to the classification made by the World Bank on the basis of income and region for the year 2006.
Both political instability and structural management problems have largely affected the country’s economy. Services sector constitute a larger share in the GDP followed by the agricultural sector.
One of the advantages associated with Uganda’s economy is the country’s substantial natural resources. Of these, the soil is fertile and there is a lot of natural gas. Other natural resources include copper, gold, cobalt, and other mineral deposits, and consistent rainfall. For exportation, Uganda ships out coffee, along with other crops. Interestingly, Uganda is rare in that has been able to rebuild and stabilize the economy since 1986 without any assistance from international agencies or foreign countries. \
