Abstract
Mounting external debt and large-scale capital flight have been at the forefront of Africa's economic problems since the 1980s. External Debt and Capital Flight in Sub-Saharan Africa, edited by S. Ibi Ajayi and Mohsin S. Khan, takes a penetrating look at debt and capital flight during the 1990s in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda. The book describes the size and composition of debt in the selected countries and examines the causes of the debt buildup. It also assesses the extent of capital flight and suggests ways of stemming the flight of financial resources.
This Selected Issues paper and Statistical Appendix analyzes poverty and social development in Uganda. The paper reviews recent poverty and inequality trends, examines how poor people are coping with risk and vulnerability, analyzes the relationship between economic growth, structural reform and poverty, and describes the government policies in these areas. The paper also provides a brief overview of major institutional developments in Uganda’s financial sector since 1993 with regard to the legal, accounting, and general regulatory framework in which financial institutions operate.
CAPITAL FORMATION is one of the main factors responsible for economic growth, and the availability of capital is, consequently, one of the central themes in the discussions of growth possibilities in developing countries. Because of the considerable capital investment needs of the less developed countries, particularly in the provision of basic infrastructural and educational facilities and in the development of agricultural and industrial ventures, the emphasis on the availability of capital is not misplaced but should not be allowed to obscure the limit on the capacity of a country to absorb new investment. Success in the mobilization of needed capital for development has varied among countries and has depended on the availability of domestic savings within the economy and the inflow of foreign capital.