Announcement of Uganda to Receive IDA Credits for Rehabilitating Agriculture and Education on February 28, 1983

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE •World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A.• Telephone: (202) 477-1234 IDA NEWS RELEASE NO. 83/47 Contact: Pushpa Schwartz February 28, 1983 (202) 477-3294 UGANDA TO RECEIVE IDA CREDITS FOR REHABILITATING AGRia.JLnJRE AND EllJCATION Uganda's efforts to rehabilitate its agricultural production and education system will receive assistance from the International Development Association (IDA). The World Bank's affiliate for concessionary lending has approved two credits totaling SDR 92.6 million ($102 million) to help finance the rehabilitatio~ in the two sectors. The IDA credits are for 50 years, including 10 years of grace; they carry no interest but have a small annual service charge (0.5% on the undisbursed balances of the credit and 0.75% on the disbursed balances). Agricultural Rehabilitation • The rehabilitation of agriculture is a top priority for Uganda's economic recovery. Agricul ture provides livelihood to 9 out of 10 Ugandans and has supplied 1 almost all of the country's exports in recent years. With favorable natural conditions, Uganda produces a food surplus in most years, except in certain drought-prone areas in the northeast. As a result of a decade of internal insecurity and lack of commitment to development in the 1970s,Uganda's agricultural production has declined. Exports of coffee, cotton, tea, and tobacco, which earn foreign exchange, also dropped sharply. To restore the export of these traditional products to former levels, as well as to promote exports of non-traditional farm products such as cereals, existing processing facilities must be rehabilitated and new facilities supplied urgently. No less urgent is the need to reform the administrative procedures so that proper pricing policies and other measures that will ;stimulate farm production and sales to government may be introduced. NOTE: IDA credits are denominated in SDRs (Special Drawing Rights), which are valued on the basis of a "basket" of currencies. The U.S. dollar equivalent of the SDR amount of the IDA credit reflects the exchange rates existing at the time of negotiation of the credit . •  An Agricultural Policy Committee was formed in August 1982 to make policy in • pricing, marketing of export commoqities, and allocation of resources in the agricultural sector. The committee will be supported by a secretariat which will be provided with consultant services. The agricultural rehabilitation project will be carried out by the Agricultural Policy Committee at a cost estimated at $88.9 million. The IDA credit of SDR 63.5 million ($70 million) will provide the foreign exchange required for these measures. To sustain production increases achieved through the rehabilitation process, farm implements and supplies such as fertilizer will be provided. Part of the IDA funds will be channelled through the Uganda Comercial Bank. Education Some 1.4 million students in Uganda's 5,000 primary and 180 secondary schools will get textbooks under an education project to be assisted with an IDA credit of SDR 29.1 million ($32 million). Workbooks and other classroom materials for 1.3 million students and workshop ?nd laboratory equipment for 80,000 students will become available. The IDA credit will also restore residential accommodations for some 4,000 students at Makerere Uniersity. This assistance is urgently required in Uganda in order to re-establish the education system which has suffered from the lack of security and economic deterioration in the country during the 1970s. • •