Africa’s crawl towards regional integration
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- Published: Thursday, 27 April 2017 09:33
- Written by SolutionsTeam
African leaders frequently pay lip-service to the virtues of regional integration but have yet to implement any meaningful change. One green shoot is the one-stop border post (OSBP) concept, where two countries jointly operate a border crossing to remove the usual, more time-consuming two-step process. Backed by some of Africa’s most influential economic blocs, the second edition of the OSBP Source Book was launched in March and has been lauded as an important toolkit to help governments improve cross-border trade. However, much more is required if Africa is to solve its regional integration issues and live up to its promise.
Gold exports from Uganda recorded an 89 per cent increase in the year ending 2016, a Bank of Uganda (BoU) report has shown. Although Uganda is not a big miner of gold, experts said the re-exports saw the country register $340 million (Shs1.2 trillion) revenue up from $36 million (Shs129 billion) exported the previous year.
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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Ms Christine Lagarde is impressed by Uganda's economic progress since the 1990's when the fund recommended radicle economic reforms. Ms Lagarde, who concluded a three-day visit to Uganda on Saturday hailed Uganda on poverty reduction, public investment, inclusive growth, financial inclusion and transparency in the oil sector. She had come to Uganda, as she said prior to the visit, to understand the economic agenda going forward.
