Government shifts trade focus from Juba due to war
Continued fighting in South Sudan has made it an unpredictable trade destination. FILE PHOTO
What you need to know:
Not reliable. Government says the unpredictability in South Sudan’s stability does not make it a reliable market.
Kampala. Government has taken what it described as a strategic decision to phase-out the South Sudan market from the list of Uganda’s major export destination.
The move by the ministry of Trade was largely informed by the unpredictability of the country.
Uganda’s export value has since decline, thanks to the political squabbles raging in one of Uganda’s biggest export destination.
Presenting the National Export Development Strategy for 2015/16 and 2019/20 on Tuesday, Mr Emmanuel Mutahunga the principal commercial officer at the Ministry of Trade, said when South Sudan market was subjected to scrutiny, it didn’t pass the test that would have merited it among the major export destination.
“South Sudan is prone to instability and so it cannot be our key focus because we are thinking in terms of long term development,” he said.
Mr Mutahunga, while presenting to the Inter Institutional Trade Committee said their focus was now on more stable since they are more advantageous in the long run.
On an annual basis, exports to South Sudan dropped by 40 per cent from Shs1 trillion in 2012 to Shs603b in 2013.
However, Mr Gideon Badagawa, the Uganda Private Sector Foundation Uganda executive director said the move should be rethought, advising “…Uganda should position itself to take advantage of any market including one of South Sudan.” He said government would instead take EU markets, Comesa, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Burundi as priority markets.
