Uganda’s Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja last week met a delegation of CRRC Dalian Company Ltd who want to invest in the rail transport in metropolitan Kampala. The meeting took place at the Office of the Prime minister in Kampala. Through the Aljibal Investments Limited, CRRC Dalian company seeks to invest $1.5bn in rail transport in Kampala to decongest the city and ease transport. While meeting the delegation Prime minister welcomed the idea but asked for due diligence to ascertain the authenticity of the company. Jabber Hamdan, the general manager Aljibal Investments Ltd says that they are only waiting for the government’s approval for the project to commence. This is a follow up of the Dubai Expo 2021 where Uganda was represented and the CRRC Dalian Company picked interest in Uganda’s transport sector. The meeting was also attended by Minister for Kampala, Trade Minister, Attorney General and the Kampala Capital City Authority executive director among others.
On Friday South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit met in his office with Hon. Tong Akeen Ngor, the Governor of Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, who briefed him on his recent mission to Khartoum, where he was part of the delegation sent by H.E. the President to purchase food items to subsidise the food prices in the flood affected States. According to a statement from the presidency, Mr Ngor informed the President that the team purchased food items which were distributed to the Counties of Northern Bahr el Ghazal State and to the areas in the neighbouring States.
Ex-Uganda Cranes star Ibrahim Sekagya was last week named the Interim Head Coach of New York Red Bulls II for the remainder of the 2022 USL Championship season. Sekagya is in his eighth season as an Assistant Coach with Red Bulls II and has filled in as Head Coach for three matches during that span. The former New York Red Bulls defender retired in 2015 after making 33 appearances with the club. Prior to that, he spent six seasons playing for Red Bull Salzburg, where he won three Austrian Bundesliga titles and an Austrian Cup championship.
President of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni on Tuesday opened the 3rd edition of the African Peer Review Mechanism Continental Youth Symposium at Speke Resort Munyonyo in Kampala, calling upon the Youth to advocate for and contribute toward political unity and coordination among the African countries. Museveni told the Youth that Uganda cannot become prosperous by begging, but rather by being the vanguard of producing goods and services, protecting Africa against all threats, and guarding Africa against the politics of sectarianism stoked by external forces. He reminded the Youth that they are on earth for a longer time than the older generations and as such they should know that Africa “is the cradle of man, pioneer of civilisation and saviour of all modern religions; Africa is ONE, its people are similar and linked, and it is through UNITY that we shall overcome anything.”
Uganda’s financial controller, the Bank of Uganda last week announced an increase in the Central Bank Rate (CBR) by another percentage point to 8.5 percent in a bid to contain the rising inflation.
The decision was taken at an extraordinary Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held on Monday, July 4, 2022. Dr. Michael Atingi-Ego, the BoU Deputy Governor, in a statement issued on Tuesday, July 5, 2022, said the increase was necessary to stabilise inflation. “While the inflationary pressures are likely to be temporary, the MPC assessed that a markedly higher policy rate is needed to stabilise inflation around the target,” he said, adding: “Accordingly, the MPC raised the CBR to 8.5 percent and maintained the band on the CBR at +/- 2 percentage points. The margins on the CBR for the rediscount and bank rates remain at 3 percentage points and 4 percentage points, respectively. Consequently, the rediscount and bank rates are now 11.5 percent and 12.5 percent, respectively.”
BoU also increased the Cash Reserve Requirement by 2 percentage points to 10 percent, effective 23 June 2022. “MPC considers that the monetary policy stance will have to be tightened even further so as to ensure that inflation eases back to target in the medium-term,” he added. Dr Ego observed that inflation continues to rise, largely influenced by external cost pressures stemming from higher global food and energy prices, persisting global production and distribution challenges, as well as rising domestic food crop prices due to dry weather across the country.
