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Uganda Aid
Following the political upheavals of the 1970s and
early
1980s, Uganda required substantial financial assistance to
rebuild its social and economic infrastructure. The
recovery
program launched by the Obote government in 1982 called
for
US$1.7 billion in balance of payments and commodity
support, but
by 1985 many Western donor countries had decided to
withhold
financial support in protest against the government's poor
human
rights record. Many agencies again suspended disbursements
at the
end of 1985, when the short-lived Okello administration
failed to
end the political chaos. Upon coming to power in January
1986,
President Museveni proposed an emergency six-month relief
program
that would cost US$160 million. Some international support
was
forthcoming, but most of the major bilateral and
multilateral
donors preferred to wait until the government had drawn up
a more
comprehensive plan. In 1987 the government responded with
the
RDP, which included a US$1.3 billion budget over four
years.
Approximately US$600 million of this amount was already
funded
when the plan was launched.
After launching the RDP, the government enjoyed the
increasing confidence of Western donor nations (see
table 8,
Appendix). In 1988 donors pledged over US$377 million in
aid, and
Uganda received major support and a vote of confidence
from both
the IMF and the Paris Club. The IMF approved a purchase
equivalent to US$33.7 million under the compensatory
financing
facility to cover an estimated shortfall in export
earnings
resulting from lower coffee revenues. In October 1988, a
consultative group meeting in Paris arranged by the World
Bank
pledged aid and concessionary loans worth US$550 million.
The
Ugandan government told potential donors that the
government
needed a minimum new aid commitment of US$440 million in
1989 in
order to meet its development targets and continue
disbursements
for existing commitments.
Data as of December 1990
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