Dubai, United Arab Emirates | AFP | Unemployment and sluggish economic growth are fuelling social tension and popular protests in several Arab countries, the International Monetary Fund said Monday. The unrest is in turn contributing to slower growth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, alongside global trade tensions, …
Read More »IMF/World Bank: 75 years as the world’s financial firefighters
Washington, United States | AFP | At the critical moment of a Hollywood movie starring A-lister Sandra Bullock, Bolivia’s newly-elected president calls in the International Monetary Fund to bail out the poverty-stricken country, violating a campaign promise. The streets erupt in violent protest. The movie, “Our Brand is Crisis,” is …
Read More »Agriculture budget passes Ugx 1 trillion mark
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The budget allocation for the agriculture sector will in the next financial year pass the 1 trillion Shillings mark for the first time in what officials say will cater for research, fertilizers and coffee strategy. The allocation to the sector will grow by 300 billion …
Read More »Uganda needs to create 600,000 jobs for economic growth to be felt
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on May 9 released a report on Uganda. The Resident Representative for Uganda, Clara Mira, talked to The Independent’s Haggai Matsiko about its important points. What is the IMF’s assessment of the performance of the Uganda economy? Around 2011, Uganda started a period during which …
Read More »Debt servicing is straining service delivery – IMF warns Uganda
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that as Uganda allocates more resources to interest repayment, key social services are being starved which will, in turn, impact health, schools, and job creation. In its latest economic outlook report for Uganda after the executive consultations on …
Read More »IMF: Uganda must create 600,000 jobs annually to stay on track
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The International Monetary Fund has hailed Uganda for achieving the Millennium Development Goal on halving poverty ahead of schedule but warned that the country must create over 600,000 jobs per year to keep up with its growing population. In its latest report after recent consultations …
Read More »China’s vast investment in Africa hits a snag in Congo
Paris, France | AFP | China’s investment strategy of throwing money at developing countries appears to have hit a snag in the Republic of Congo as the central African nation is seeking an IMF bailout. While the funding it provided to Congo wasn’t part of the Belt and Road Initiative …
Read More »Time for a true global currency
Turning the SDR into a global currency would yield benefits for the world’s economy and monetary system Project Syndicate | José Antonio Ocampo | This year, the world commemorates the anniversaries of two key events in the development of the global monetary system. The first is the creation of the …
Read More »IMF warns rising debt makes economy more vulnerable
Washington, United States | AFP | Rising corporate and government debt levels and the sharp increase in more risky lending could leave the global economy vulnerable to another severe downturn, the International Monetary Fund warned Wednesday. While the concerns “aren’t all setting off alarm bells just yet,” governments will face challenges …
Read More »Uganda’s strategic dilemma Part2
Why Uganda’s economy is dominated by multinational capital and what cannot be done about it THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | We begin from where we stopped last week. Uganda’s growing economy served three critical purposes: It increased government revenues, gave greater confidence to donors to give more …
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