Uganda

Uganda is a landlocked state in East Africa on Lake Victoria with a land mass of 241,038km² west of Kenya and east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It has a population of 45.9 million and GDP of US$53.6 which is expected to grow by 6.2% in 2025 and 6.6% in 2026. Its currency is the Ugandan Shilling and President Yoweri Museveni has been in power since 1986.

Domestic visitation is expected to reach 252.5 million visits in 2025. International visits are forecast to decline by 9.2% in 2025, driven by the impact of higher tariffs on the global economy and negative sentiment toward the U.S. due to the administration\'s trade policies.

Uganda contains unexploited deposits of bismuth, chromite, cobalt, copper, graphite, lead, lithium, magnesite, nickel, rare earth elements and zinc, while iron ore, phosphate rock, tantalum and niobium minerals, tin (Africa’s fifth largest producer), tungsten (Africa’s fourth largest producer), gold and gemstones are also produced. Recently commercially exploitable reserves of oil and gas have been discovered in Uganda\'s rift valley basins and with progressed preparation of the drilling fields and supportive infrastructure, oil exports are expected to commence by the end of 2025.

While Uganda’s exports surged with increased volumes of production and improvement in terms of trade, resumption of gold trade, and recovery of tourism, imports grew stronger supported by demand from investments into the country’s oil development program, hence weakening the current account.

The Bank of Uganda (BoU), the central bank, tightened monetary policy in March 2024 to curb possible passthrough effects of a fast-depreciating shilling. During the second half of FY24, inflation increased gradually to 3.4% in February 2024 but is forecast to accelerate towards the target of 5%, partly on account of the shilling depreciation recently driven by intensified portfolio outflows and the BoU has raised its policy rate to 10% from the 9.5% maintained since August 2023.

Agriculture accounts for a large share of Uganda’s export earnings and its GDP as well as providing the main source of income for the vast majority of the adult population. Farmers, working an average of less than 3 acres (1 hectare), provide more than half of the agricultural production. They are largely based in the south, where there is more rainfall and fertile soil. Significantly, a considerable number of women own the land on which they work as the Ugandan constitution, alongside a number of laws, articulates a commitment to attain gender equality.


Uganda has a generous refugee policy and has had an influx of foreigners mainly from the DRC and South Sudan who enjoy access to social services and land, and can move and work freely. However, the continued influx is straining host communities and service delivery.

Since the late 1980s, the state’s macroeconomic policies have consistently focused on containing inflation and ensuring exchange rate stability. President Museveni’s government has made industrial sector development the centre of the state\'s socio-economic development plan. The industrial sector accounts for 18% of GDP and is currently largely dependent on imported inputs like oil and equipment.


Sources: Who Owns Whom sector reports, CIA Factbook, African Development Bank, World Bank, Trading Economics, African Statistical Yearbook and IMF. ?>