Kampala
The chairman of Uganda Investment Authority has urged Ugandans to take advantage of the rising food prices to invest in commercial farming, agro-processing and value addition so as to benefit from the situation.
Mr Patrick Bitature said in Kampala yesterday that such investments will increase incomes and contribute to food security. The rising food and fuel prices, coupled with the weak shilling forced Uganda’s inflation to jump from 6.4 per cent in February to 11.1 per cent in March 2011.
Mr Bitature who was presenting the investment performance report for the first quarter of the year from January to March 2011, said with the current inflation levels and high commodity prices, consumers and manufacturers importing raw materials for their factories are feeling the pinch.
The investment body licensed 78 projects with a planned investment value of $604 million in the first quarter of 2011 compared to $210 million in the same period last year. The highest source of planned investment recorded is in the financial, insurance and real estate sectors with projects worth $231 million.
Uganda has continued to be the leading investor with 26 projects, estimated at $264.6 million. It was closely followed by the United Kingdom with six projects worth $108.9 million. Norway, Kenya and India came in the third, fourth and fifth positions with projects worth $67.9 million, $56.3 million and $23 million respectively.
The projects licensed during the period are expected to create about 21,841 jobs for Ugandans. Mr Bitature noted that the investment body didn’t record any new investments from Libya, Tunisia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates due to the civil unrest in North Africa and the Middle East. He, however, explained the events in those countries do not seem to have caused problems amongst the investments from those countries. Last year, the United Arab Emirates came 10 with a project worth $7 million.
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