Following a pick-up in economic activity, according to the preliminary estimates of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) released by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (Ubos), Uganda's economy expanded by 5.3% in the fiscal year 2022/2023 as opposed to the 4.6% recorded in the financial year 2021/2022.
This information comes after the country's finance ministry reported that Uganda's economy expanded 6.8% in the first half of the fiscal year 2022–23, which runs through the end of June, up from 3.7% in the same time last fiscal year.
The recovery of Uganda's economic development shows that the Covid-19 pandemic's effects have subsided and that the population is now actively participating in economic activities, which generates revenue for residents and, in turn, lowers levels of poverty.
Dr. Chris Ndatira Mukiza, executive director of Ubos, said the size of the economy in nominal terms increased to Sh184.28 trillion in the Fiscal Year 2022/2023 from Sh162.88 trillion in the Fiscal Year 2021/2022 when he presented the preliminary annual gross domestic product for the fiscal year 2022/23 in Kampala on Wednesday.
With a share of 42.6% in the fiscal year 2022/2023 compared to 41.6% in the fiscal year 2021/2022, Dr. Mukiza stated the services sector remained to be the largest contributor to GDP.
“This was followed by the industry sector with a share of 26.1 percent in Fiscal Year 2022/2023 compared to 26.7 percent in the previous fiscal year, agriculture sector contributed 24.0 percent in Fiscal Year 2022/2023, a similar contribution registered in the Fiscal Year 2021/2022,” he said.
Dr. Mukiza stated that the gross value added for agricultural, forestry, and fishing operations increased by 5% in the fiscal year 2022/2023, as opposed to a previous gain of 4.2% observed in the fiscal year 2021/2022.
According to Dr. Mukiza, the performance in agricultural activities is largely due to the good performance in food crop growing activities, which saw a growth of 4.7%, livestock activities, which saw a growth of 8.9%, and fishing activities, which saw growth of 7.7% in Fiscal Year 2022/2023 after experiencing a slow growth of 0.3 percent in Fiscal Year 2021/2022.
Dr. Mukiza noted that compared to Fiscal Year 2021/2022 when cash crop-producing operations had a faster rise of 5.7%, Fiscal Year 2022/2023 saw a lesser growth of 2.1%.
In Fiscal Year 2022/2023, he claimed, the gross value added for the industry sector increased by 3.9% as opposed to 5.1% in Fiscal Year 2021/2022. Manufacturing, which saw a growth of 3.0% in Fiscal Year 2022/2023, construction, which saw a growth of 4.7% in Fiscal Year 2022/2023, and water supply, which saw a growth of 5.4% in Fiscal Year 2022/2023, are the three main contributors to the sector's growth.
According to the value-added for services, the gross value added for the sector of services increased by 6.2% in the fiscal year 2022–2023 as opposed to 4.1 percent in the fiscal year 2021–2022.
According to Dr. Mukiza, during the previous year, the activities related to lodging and food services increased by 11.9% in Fiscal Year 2022/2023 compared to a 2.5% fall in Fiscal Year 2021/2022. In a similar way, he added, "Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation increased by 4.0 percent in Fiscal Year 2022/2023 after declining by 2.2% in Fiscal Year 2021/22."
According to Ubos data, activities related to information and communication increased by 10.4% in the fiscal year 2022–2023 compared to a growth of 7.4% in the fiscal year 2021–2022, while activities related to education saw an increase of 3.4% in the fiscal year 2022–2023 compared to a growth of 1.5% in the fiscal year 2021–2022.