By Henry H. Ssali & Muhereza Kyamutetera
May 29, 2003
| The World Bank yesterday said it is not responsible for the fall of the shilling.
This follows President Yoweri Museveni's accusation earlier in the month that the Bank's policies were responsible for the shilling's steady slide. "In fact it is the World Bank supporting the shilling through its policy of encouraging exports," said Mr Sudarshan Canarajah, the World Bank's senior country economist at a public debate in Kampala yesterday. The shilling has rapidly depreciated over the last two months, and is now trading at Shs 2,010 to the dollar. The Bank man was discussing the topic, 'A Critical Evaluation of Uganda's Economic Performance Over the Last 16 Years' at a public debate at Makerere University yesterday. Mr Canarajah attributed the shilling's fall to unfavourable terms of trade where imports are worth $1.8 billion and exports are a mere $400 million annually. He further blamed the government for not putting donor money to good use. "The problem is not borrowing but what you use the money for," he said. The economist added that at the moment in Uganda money is being used for public administration, paying salaries to several government officials and a large Parliament instead of putting it into social services and capacity building. Mr Canarajah said that at the moment Uganda's debt is unsustainable. "But we don't want to use that as the basis to deny more money, it's like pulling a life support machine off a dying patient," he said. He challenged government to practice good politics because they are directly linked to economic stability. "This money we give you is some other taxpayer's money. Donor countries are now asking tough questions. You cannot tell them that you spent it on junk helicopters because they have them in their backyards," Mr Canarajah said. Currently 53 percent of Uganda's budget is financed by donors. Recently, they met Mr Museveni and advised him to adopt political pluralism. The debate was organised by Makerere Debating Society in conjunction with Friedrich Ebert Foundation. |
© 2003 The Monitor Publications
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