Uganda Business, Economy and Infrastructure News

[kihihi]

Uganda’s economy will expand about 10 percent in the year through June 2012, Finance Minister Syda Bbumba said.

“We are pursuing good economic policies which will see the economy grow,” Bbumba said today in an interview in the capital, Kampala.

Growth will be driven by the service and construction industries, Keith Muhakanizi, the deputy secretary to the Treasury, said in a separate interview. The forecast for expansion next year compares with the 6.4 percent that Bbumba projected on June 10 for the 2010-11 fiscal year.

Uganda, with a population of 32 million people, will become an oil producer later this year when Tullow Oil Plc starts production at its Kasamene field. The East African nation is trying to reduce its reliance on foreign donor aid, which accounts for about 4.6 percent of gross domestic product, according to World Bank data.

Tullow, the U.K. explorer with the most licenses in Africa, plans a partnership with France’s Total SA and China National Offshore Oil Corp. to help develop Uganda’s oilfields. Neptune Uganda Ltd., a unit of the London-based Tower Resources Plc, and Dominion Petroleum Ltd. of Bermuda are the other companies exploring for oil in Uganda