On 15 April, 2014, Dr. Albert Musisi, of the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, presented a paper titled "Uganda Public Sector Borrowing Requirements, Financing Options and the Implications for Economic Performance", highlighting Uganda's need for significant additional investment capital in the next 6 years to finance the country's investment plans. Dr. Musisi's presented his work at the National Development Policy forum, held at the office of the president of Uganda, where experts discussed financing options to meet the country's infrastructure plans.

Dr. Musisi was the leader of a technical team in Uganda formed by a capacity development project led by UN-DESA, which transferred knowledge to government staff to analyze economic and policy changes and provide advice to policy-makers. In his paper, Dr. Musisi uses the modelling tools imparted by DESA's capacity development activities to highlight the implications that the investment projects and their financing have on the general macroeconomic stability of the country. With total government spending expected to increase to an average of 24 per cent of the GDP between 2014/15 and 2017/18, there is fear that commercial borrowing could crowd-out private sector investments.

The policy dialogue and the successful transfer of knowledge are key accomplishments of DESA’s capacity development project “Strengthening Macroeconomic and Social Policy Coherence through Integrated Macro-Micro Modelling”. 

• More about DESA/DPAD Capacity Development activities in Uganda
• More about DPAD’s Capacity Development and Advisory Services