Experts Highlight Strategies for Economic Recovery

Economists have tipped government on some of the key strategies that can be implemented to help recover from the economic crisis the country is facing.

For the past months, the country has faced an increase in cost of living with prices of some essential commodities shooting high.

However, government has hinged the increase in commodity prices and inflation on external factors and effects of the prolonged Covid-19-induced lockdown.

Speaking at the 9th Annual National Conference on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, held at Makerere University,  Maxwell Odongo, a planner, education and skills development officer at National Planning Authority (NPA), where he represented the executive director, Dr Joseph Muvawala, advised government to reduce spending on imports such as vehicles and military hardware to create fiscal space for priorities and release pressure from the exchange rate.

He added that  government needs to  lower the cost of credit to boost private sector investment as one of the ways to improve the standard of living of Ugandans.

Odong said that there’s Need for better coordination of the monetary and fiscal policies, saying with the fiscal expansion witnessed in the last three years, it is evident that implementation of monetary policy is likely becoming ineffective, where Supplementary budgets and domestic borrowing are a serious concern and depict a lack of coordination between fiscal and monetary policy management.

Speaking at the same event, Salima Namusobya, the Executive Director, Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER), said there’s need to consider the context people are leaving in, and where there’s a pocket of vulnerable groups.

Namusobya noted that a number of things need to be put in place through improving domestic revenue mobilization, like fight against corruption, and the need to be intentional on ensuring that some money in tax exemptions among others, is freed.

Meanwhile, the Vice Chancellor of Makerere University, Prof Barnabas Nawangwe, asked the government to establish an agriculture bank to give farmers money at low-interest rates.

He also called for more funding for education and research, saying that with good investment in research, economic growth is guaranteed from an informed point of view.

On her part,  Dianah Ateenyi, an assistant lecturer at Makerere University, called for tax justice, where the rich who can pay taxes are made to pay as opposed to exploiting the poor at the expense of the rich.

The two-day conference was organised by  Makerere University School of Law in partnership with other non-government agencies as the university celebrates 100 years in existence.

The 9th Annual Conference on Economic Social and Cultural Rights 2022, was held under the theme “Financing a just and inclusive recovery”.