East African Business Week

Kampala, Uganda - Uganda has registered planned investments worth US$1.7 billion over the last twelve months, a report by the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) has showed.
This is a 5.6% increase compared to the year before when UIA registered investments worth $1.55 billion.
Addressing the press at the media centre in Kampala recently, the State minister for Privatization Mr. Aston Kajara revealed the figures while presenting the UIA performance report for the just concluded financial year.
"UIA licensed 337 projects worth $ 1.7 billion with a planned job creation of over 130,000 jobs compared to the 340 projects licensed last year worth $ 1.55 billion," said Kajara.
The electricity and gas sector topped the list with the highest number of planned investments in the country. "The sector registered a total of $445 million with 75,547 jobs between June 2010 and July 2011," he explained.
Following closely was the financial, insurance, real estate and business services sector which recorded a planned investment of $ 432 million, 15927 jobs and 94 projects.
Expressing his gratitude to UIA for the notable figures, the minister stressed the need for more emphasis on job creation and adherence to the objectives of the National Development Plan (NDP).
"Over 30,000 graduates are released from universities every year, therefore emphasis must be placed on vocational training and entrepreneurship skills development as a stepping stone for job creation," he said.
According to the Private Sector Investment Survey funded by the Bank of Uganda and UIA, net employment increased by 5.2% from 119,791 employees to 127,589 employees with the highest figures recorded in the manufacturing sector.
"Manufacturing leads in employment creation due to a good number of people employed as both skilled and unskilled," he said.