KAMPALA: Restrictive measures against the second wave of COVID-19 infections in Uganda have impacted the country’s economic growth prospects, the central bank said Thursday.
Lockdown measures have interrupted the recovery trend in the third quarter and lowered the projected economic growth for the financial year 2021/22 to 3.5-3.8 percent compared to the projections in August of 3.5-4.0 percent, the Bank of Uganda said, adding the virus continues to cause uncertainty for the near-term economic outlook.
“The outlook remains overcast by the future path of the pandemic, especially a major mutation of the virus that could severely undermine vaccine effectiveness and delay both domestic and global economic recovery,” it said.
Meanwhile, high frequency indicators of economic activity in August and September suggest that the economy is pulling out of the impact of the second wave of the pandemic, the bank said.
A rebound in economic activity will be sustained by an acceleration in private consumption, strong growth in external demand, a gradual return of tourism, and foreign and domestic private investment in the oil sector, it noted.