KAMPALA (Reuters) – Uganda’s finance ministry reduced its economic growth forecast to between 6% and 6.5% in the 2024 – 2025 financial year that runs from July to June, it said on Tuesday, without giving a reason for the revision.
In June, the ministry had forecast gross domestic product growth between 6.4% and 7% for the east African nation during the presentation of the budget for the current financial year. GDP stood at $53 billion at the end of June.
It said in Tuesday’s statement that the pace of economic activity during the period would be driven mainly by investments in several sectors including agro-processing, and oil and gas.
The ministry added that the government had released 124 billion Ugandan shillings ($33.60 million) to the state-run petroleum firm UNOC to help partially pay for the government’s shareholding in the planned East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).
The project is struggling to acquire funding after some Western backers declined to finance it on environmental concerns. ($1 = 3,690.0000 Ugandan shillings)
(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by George Obulutsa, Alexandra Hudson)
