Uganda’s per capita is now equivalent to USD 800, President Yoweri Museveni stated in his State of the Nation Address this afternoon.
Uganda’s Gross Domestic Product per capita was last recorded at USD 666.61 in 2017. It averaged 439.43 USD from 1982 until 2017, reaching an all-time high of 666.61 USD in 2017 and a record low of 272.70 USD in 1986.
Per capita income is the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a country divided by the total population. It gives an indication of the average earnings per person in a year.
World Bank ranks middle income countries as those whose per capita income (annual earnings per person) averages between US$1,036 and US$12,615. This means that Uganda is not only battling to attain a lower middle income status (US$1,036), but is still far from achieving it.
Government had set 2020 as the middle income status target but experts and government technocrats say this won’t be possible.
President Museveni said he was delighted with the growth of the Country’s Per capita Income, even though it is still below the rate required to attain the middle income status. He said Uganda is the only country in Africa which has registered highest economic growth without minerals and oil.
He said that the Government is prioritizing the industrial parks which will result into creation of new jobs. The total of factories in Uganda is now 4900, from 80-factories that existed at the time the Uganda Manufacturers Association was created.
He added that the government will focus on modernizing agriculture with promotion of cash crops such as coffee, in the spirit of increasing foreign revenue.
By URN & Taddewo William Senyonyi
