Uganda’s economic freedom score is 62.0, making its economy the 83rd freest in the 2018 Index. Its overall score has increased by 1.1 points, with improvements in judicial effectiveness and property rights outpacing lower scores for the tax burden and labor freedom indicators. Uganda is ranked 5th among 47 countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa region, and its overall score is above the regional and world averages.
Government funding of energy-related, roadway, and other public-works infrastructure projects is often externally financed through low-interest concessional loans. As a result, debt servicing for these loans is expected to rise. The strong commitment to economic liberalization that made Uganda one of Africa’s most rapidly developing countries during the 1980s has diminished noticeably. Bureaucracy and expensive business licensing requirements discourage development of the private sector. A weak and inefficient judicial system and pervasive corruption are serious impediments to sustainable development. The wide range of ethnic groups with different political systems and cultures within the former British colony of Uganda complicated governance after independence in 1962. President Yoweri Museveni and his National Resistance Movement have been in power since 1986. In 2016, Museveni won a fifth five-year term in elections tainted by government intimidation. The main opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, was arrested several times during the election cycle and was later charged with treason. Harassment of the government’s political opponents intensified in 2017 amid allegations of creeping authoritarianism. Uganda has significant natural wealth, including gold, recently discovered oil, and rich agricultural lands from which more than two-thirds of the workforce derives employment.
