Top executives of Stanbic Bank Uganda and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) have urged Chinese state and private enterprises to take advantage of the business opportunities that Uganda’s oil and gas sector offers.
Patrick Mweheire, Chief Executive Stanbic Bank Uganda told a group of Chinese business people late on Thursday that Uganda’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is likely to double to 70 billion U.S. dollars by 2025 from the current 30 billion dollars.
He said the growth will be on account of investment in the country’s oil and gas sector.
He noted that over the next two years before Uganda’s first oil is expected, 15-20 billion dollars will be invested in the sector.
Mweheire said all this provides opportunities that Chinese enterprises can take up in partnership with Ugandans. The opportunities are varied ranging from construction to agriculture among others.
The Chief Executive said that Stanbic Bank and ICBC, the world’s largest bank by assets, are ready to facilitate the investors who want to take up the opportunities.
ICBC holds shares in Standard Bank of South Africa which is the parent company of Stanbic Bank Uganda.
Uganda plans to start the commercial production of oil by 2020. The country plans to construct a 60,000-barrel-a-day refinery and a crude oil pipeline that will run from the oil wells in the western part of the country to the Tanzanian seaport of Tanga. Enditem
