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Uganda above average in policy improvement - World Bank
Key measured indicators and scores
What you need to know:
Not enough. The 3.7 score, however, was not sufficient to foster sustainable growth, poverty reduction and effective use of development assistance.
Uganda scored above average in terms of raising the quality of the institutions and policies posting a score of 3.7, according to the 2019 World Bank annual Country Policy and Institutional Assessment report released last week.
The score, which was above the 3.1 average scored by 38 surveyed sub-Saharan Africa countries against a measure of zero to six, however, the report said, was not enough to foster sustainable growth, poverty reduction and effective use of development assistance.
The assessment report, which covers the period between January and December 2018, noted deceleration in growth across sub-Saharan Africa with most weaknesses recorded in macroeconomic management.
Rwanda, which posted four against a score of six, posted the best score in regard to policy improvement followed by Cape Verde with a score of 3.8. The two countries were followed by Kenya, Senegal and Uganda, which all posted a 3.7 score.
“The ranking represented net gains for Cape Verde and Uganda but a downgrade for Senegal, while Kenya’s was unchanged. Burkina Faso maintained its 2017 score of 3.6, while Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Tanzania each scored 3.5. Ghana and Tanzania lost ground,” the World Bank report indicates.
Three countries including Mali, Mauritania, and Niger, the report indicates, scored 3.4 while Cameroon, Lesotho, Madagascar, and Zambia scored 3.3.
Slightly more than half of sub Saharan Africa (21 countries) scored 3.2 or less, including Nigeria, the region’s largest economy, with a score of 3.1. South Sudan continued to be the weakest country in the region, posting the lowest score of 1.5.
The 2018 Country Policy and Institutional Assessment report took a closer look at debt management, noting that debt to GDP ratio reached 54.9 per cent in, an 18.5 per cent increase since 2013.
The report focuses on key economic drivers, among them trade, quality of budgetary and financial management, transparency, accountability and corruption in the public sector, among others.
