Economic Development of Uganda

Student's Name
Professor's Name
Course
Date
Economic Development of Uganda
This report analyzes the development program over the last 60 years, the development gap between Uganda and OECD countries, and obstacles the country encounters towards ending the development gap. Uganda is a nation found in the eastern Africa area, and International Monetary Fund Classifies it as a middle-income country. Uganda's history, political organization, and demography isolate the country, which results in disruption of the economy and causes a high poverty rate.
Economic Development over the past 6o years
Agriculture has been the dominating economic activity since the pre-colonial period in Uganda and has supported the economy for a long time. Besides, an active trade in ivory, enslaved people, and animal hides connected the country with the rest of Africa's east coast before the arrival of white people, as many of the Ugandans depended primarily on subsistence farming. The invasion of European into Uganda led to a pursuit of economic policies that transformed Uganda into a world economy for their economic interest. The country started cotton plantation, which is now among the leading supporters of the economy and was the leading export in the country after colonization. However, for the last 60 years, the government has encouraged the production of sugar and tea plantations which are the main holders of the country's economy (Bandyopadhyay et al. 282). Therefore, sugar, tea, and cotton are the main cash crops farming in Uganda that have had a huge impact on the growth of this country's economy.
Uganda has benefited from a strong, stable economy after independence. Despite agriculture being the main contributor to the economy, a fast-growing manufacturing sector appeared capable of increasing its contribution to the nation's GDP via manufacturing foodstuffs and textiles. The country has valuable minerals, including copper and water power sources, which are also considerable in powering the economy. According to Byamugisha, Uganda joined other adjoining nations, including Kenya and Tanzania, in 1967 to create the East African Community organization to share a joint market and share the expense of transportation and banking amenities (6). The above reasons enabled Uganda to record an impressive growth rate in the early years after gaining independence.
However, its economy deteriorated under the governance of Idi Amin during his reign between 1971-1979. Amin prioritized superpatriot, troops policies, and ill-chosen monetary approaches to uproot foreign economic aspirations and develop the troops. In 1972, he detained 70 000 Asians of Indian and Pakistani heritage who held British visas. Many Asians were proactive in agriculture and commerce (Ojede et al. 437). Their absence from the country and Amin's efforts to oust foreign business lowered the investors' confidence in Uganda. His efforts to expand public spending on military products exacerbated the country's foreign and domestic debt, which deteriorated in the 1970s.
Uganda's relationship with its neighbors deteriorated, leading to EAC disbanding in 1977. However, in 1979, the Tanzanian forces had a joint measure to conquer the undesirable Amin reign. By 1980, the economy dete...