Uganda’s GDP will grow 5.5 percent in the year ending June 2018, boosted by higher oil sector investments and lower borrowing costs.
A budget paper stated that the issuance of crude production licenses would boost activity in the oil sector thus aiding growth.
The land-locked east African country discovered crude reserves estimated at 6.5 billion barrels about a decade ago, in its western region near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Commercial production is expected to start in about four years, when an export pipeline through Tanzania to the Indian Ocean coast is due for completion.
Easing of monetary policy by Uganda’s Central Bank, has seen the key lending rate drop to 11.5 percent from 16 percent.
Uganda has ambitions to reach middle incomes status by 2020, but, the World Bank says that its economy must grow by a minimum 10 percent to achieve this target.
