The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ms Christine Lagarde on Wednesday evening landed at Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport to start of her 3-day official visit to the country.
She will be in Uganda from 25th to 28th of January and the purpose of the visit is to better understand Uganda’s economic landscape as well as its agenda.
In a statement sent by the IMF, Lagarde said; “I hope to gain a deeper understanding of your governments’ economic agenda, and discuss how the International Monetary Fund can best serve Uganda.”
Ms Lagarde will hold talks with President Museveni, meet Members of Parliament as well as key financial stakeholders from Ministry of Finance and Bank of Uganda.
On Friday, she will give a public lecture themed ” becoming a champion, Uganda’s development challenge” at the Kampala Serena hotel.
The visit comes at a time Uganda’s economy is attempting recovery from lower than anticipated growth in the previous two years.
Uganda joined the IMF on September 22, 1963, but the relationship will be remembered for the Structural Adjustment Policies of the 1990’s that led to the liberalisation of the economy and privatisation of government entities. Uganda also benefited from a $2b debt relief in 1999 under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative by the IMF and World Bank.
(IMF, Kenyan Wall Street, Chimp Reports)
