Finance & Development, March 2020
Economic growth has recovered, but higher food and fuel prices have sparked a sharp rise in inflation. Monetary policy has been tightened to contain core inflation and effects of the food and fuel price shocks. The government has allowed for scaling up of infrastructure investment spending. The programmed adjustment of fiscal and monetary policies will help put Uganda on a more sustainable medium-term trajectory. Eliminating tax exemptions and incentives will address the revenue gap. The planned oil revenue management framework is encouraging.
This paper discusses key findings of the Sixth Review for Uganda Under the Policy Support Instrument. Structural rigidities continue to pose challenges to macroeconomic management in Uganda. Persistent weaknesses in project implementation coupled with rigidities in domestic financial markets limited the scope for fiscal and monetary stimulus in 2008/09. Progress with structural reforms has been uneven and may not have kept pace with the needs raised by the public investment drive. Macroeconomic policies will continue to aim at overcoming infrastructure bottlenecks while mitigating the impact of external shocks on domestic activity.
Fractious domestic politics are at the root of continued poverty in some developing countries and pose a dilemma for donors and international financial institutions. This paper examines the effects of foreign assistance in countries with plentiful investment opportunities when interest groups compete for unproductive government transfers. We assess conditional and unconditional assistance (project and program aid, loans, and grants). We find that project conditionality alone may fail to spur growth. Official development loans channeled to investment may not increase the recipient’s growth and welfare even if interest groups are unable to appropriate aid funds directly. Conditions must tackle the domestic drivers of inefficient fiscal policies. To improve the composition of government expenditure, increase growth, and improve welfare, tax rates must be kept constant and loan repayment be financed by cuts in unproductive transfers. Official development grants are superior to loans of the same net present value if donors cannot enforce conditions on assistance.