Govt is interested in investing in tourism, says Ggoobi
Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (MoFPED) Permanent Secretary Ramathan Ggoobi has revealed that government is interested in investing in tourism in Uganda especially marketing the country.
He made the remarks at the 7th edition of the NTV Economic Summit held under the theme “Harnessing Current and Emerging Opportunities to Consolidate Economic Recovery.”
According to Ggoobi, they are aware of the risks and they know how to mitigate them.
“Economists believe that people are optimizes and and as we optimize we make mistakes. Government also makes mistakes however their primary role is keeping the macro-economy stable,” he said.
He noted that the macro-economy of Uganda is relatively stable as it has expanded to a GDP of $50BN and is expected to expand to $55BN of June next year.
“We have registered a trade surplus of $775M, we exported beer of $29M and soap of $2M and many other exports, this proves an opportunity to harness.Tourism has brought him $1.09BN while $1.4BN came from remittance from Ugandans,” said Ggoobi.
He added, “We have everything now to feed region, Africa imports food worth $23BN a year.Uganda’s is ranked the most attractive economy in the EAC and the 3rd in Africa, investors in Uganda enjoy their return on investment.”
Stanbic Bank CEO Anne Juuko noted that Ugandans pay taxes with difficulty but when they pay, “We would like accountability. We want the government to be answerable to the people from whom they collect taxes.”
She pointed out that the country’s tax system is not conducive to their growth which hinders their contribution to the nation’s economic status.
“We often speak about only the bad things in the country and ignore the good ones.There are areas where we are doing very well but there are areas that we have to work on,” said Juuko.
