Country Listing

Uganda Table of Contents

Uganda

ECONOMY

Gross Domestic Product (GDP): Ush995.6 billion, or about US$4.9 billion in FY 1989; per capita income Ush60,7112, or about US$304. About 44 percent of GDP originates outside monetary economy.

Currency: Uganda shilling (USh). Ush510 = US$1, official exchange rate, late 1990; parallel market rate Ush700 = US$1.

Government Budget: Ush169.26 billion in FY 1990, including deficit of Ush57.91 billion.

Fiscal Year (FY): July 1 to June 30.

Agriculture: Agricultural activity in monetary sector constituted about 26 percent of GDP and 95 percent of export revenues; in addition, agriculture accounted for over 90 percent of nonmonetary economic activity. Cash crops: coffee, cotton, tea, tobacco. Food crops: plantains, cassava, sweet potatoes, millet, sorghum, corn, beans, groundnuts. Fishing important for domestic consumption. Forest areas cover 7.5 million hectares; being rapidly depleted despite attempts at regulation.

Energy: Electric generating plants at Owen Falls and Murchison (Kabalega) Falls; some oil in western Uganda.

Industry: Mostly processing of agricultural produce and production of textiles, wood and paper products, cement, chemicals. Small part of GDP in late 1980s, with much unused capacity.

Mining: Formerly 9 percent of exports; output nil in late 1980s, except for construction materials such as sand and gravel.

Tourism: Third largest source of foreign exchange until destroyed by civil war and unrest during 1970s; slowly reviving in late 1980s.

Exports: Coffee, cotton, tea, tobacco. Coffee chief export crop and foreign exchange earner.

Imports: Machinery, military equipment and supplies, construction materials, oil, vehicles, medical supplies.

Major Trading Partners: Exports to United States and Western Europe; imports from Kenya, Britain, Germany, Italy.

Data as of December 1990