Standard Chartered Bank on Wednesday lowered its economic growth forecast for Uganda, citing delays in the commencement of the country’s commercial oil production.
Razia Khan, the bank’s chief economist for Africa and Middle East, told reporters and employees of the bank here in a webcast briefing from London that delays by Uganda and international oil companies to reach a Final Investment Decision (FID) was affecting the economic growth prospects.
FID is the detailed plan which an oil company will follow to develop an oil field.
“We have lowered our 2020 and 2021 growth forecasts to 6.0 percent and 6.2 percent (6.2 percent and 6.5 percent prior),” she said.
Reaching an agreement on the FID would pave way for kick-starting the commercial production of oil in the east Africa country, a move experts say would fast track Uganda’s economic development.
The country had anticipated starting commercial production by 2022. It would build a crude oil pipeline to the Tanzania seaport of Tanga and also a refinery in the oil wells in the Albertine rift valley basin.
Ministry of energy and mineral development figures show that Uganda has so far discovered over 6.5 billion barrels of oil. Enditem
