Agriculture sector leads renewed economic growth

Preliminary official data showed that Uganda's economy has performed strongly so this year up to the end of June, after two years of relatively low growth, with an increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 7.8 percent, a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) stated. The main stimulus for this economic improvement was an improved performance by the agricultural sector, which had rallied to represent 42.8 percent of GDP after falling for a number of previous years, it added. Although defence spending was likely to overshoot the government's stated target of 1.9 percent for 1999/2000, Uganda's underlying fiscal position was likely to continue its slow improvement through a widening of the tax base, improved tax compliance and close controls on spending, it added.