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Claim: Malik Basintale, deputy national communications officer for the National Democratic Congress, has said that Uganda is the 8th fastest-growing economy in the world.
Verdict: Misleading. The World Bank and African Development Bank rank Uganda as one of the fastest-growing economies in Sub-Saharan Africa, not globally.
Full Text.
Ghana’s Parliament passed the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, popularly known as the Anti-LGBTQ+ bill, on Wed. Feb. 28, 2024. There have been several discussions on both traditional and social media. Several human rights activists have claimed that the bill is cruel and might have several implications for Ghana’s international reputation.
The bill awaits presidential assent by Ghana’s leader, Nana Akufo-Addo. Even before that consent is given or declined, the Ministry of Finance, Ghana, has written to the president warning of the economic implications of assenting to the bill. In its presser, the ministry warned the president that Ghana could lose $3.8 billion in financial support over six years, which could have dire implications for Ghana’s economy.
However, officials of the opposition National Democratic Congress disagree with the Finance Ministry.
In discussing the ministry’s caution to the president, Malik Basintale, Deputy national communications officer for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), claimed that Uganda has managed to become the 8th fastest growing economy in the world even though they slammed a death penalty/ sentence on LGBTQ+ activities in May 2023.
“Look, the economic basis of this entire LGBTQ does not hold water, and I will cite an example. Uganda’s punishment for LGBTQ is death. As it stands now, Uganda is the 8th fastest growing economy in the world, but their penalty for LGBTQ is death…,” he said.
The video capturing Malik Basintale’s assertion is on TV3 Ghana’s Facebook page. Find the claim from 16:00 to 16:40 of the video posted on March 5, 2024.
Verification
The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Economic Outlook Report for Jan. 2024 projects that global economic growth is estimated at 3.1 percent. This is 0.2 percentage points higher than the World Economic Outlook’s Oct. 2023 Report. However, the World Bank projected a 3.8 per cent economic growth in Sub-saharan Africa in 2024.
In verifying this claim, DUBAWA contacted Maalik Basintale to provide the source of his claim, but he has yet to respond to the questions.
In the IMF’s projection, Nigeria and South Africa are the major countries in sub-Saharan Africa named and expected to see an increase of 3.0% and 1.0%, respectively. This projection did not mention Uganda as ‘the fastest growing economy’ globally in 2024.
Also, according to the latest Africa’s Macro-Economics Performance and Outlook (MEO) released in Jan. 2024, Niger is projected as the African country to experience solid economic performance at 11.2 per cent. Table A2.1 on page 65 of the report indicates that Niger is followed by Senegal, Libya, Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Benin, Djibouti, Tanzania, Togo and Uganda at 8.2%, 7.9%, 7.2%, 6.8%, 6.7%, 6,4%, 6.2%, 6.1%, 6.0%, and 6.0% respectively. The Africa’s Macroeconomics Performance and Outlook is a biannual report published by the African Development Bank.
Further, the World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects report for Jan. 2024 projects that in Sub-Saharan Africa, Niger will experience economic growth at 12.8%, followed by Senegal, Rwanda, DR Congo, Ivory Coast and Ethiopia at 8.8%, 7.5%, 6.5%, 6.5% and 6.4% respectively. Benin and Uganda will experience economic growth at 6.0 per cent in 2024.
Find other publications that project Uganda as one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s high-growth economies in 2024 here, here, and here.
Conclusion:
Data from the African Development Bank and the World Bank projects Uganda as one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s economies with high growth in 2024. However, there is no data to prove that Uganda is the 8th fastest-growing economy in the world. The claim that Uganda is the 8th fastest-growing economy in the world is misleading.
