Economic Policy Research Centre has completed regional dissemination of survey results on the impact of Covid-19 on the Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in Uganda. The nationwide survey captured the state of MSMEs during and after different spells of Covid-19 instigated shutdowns. During regional disseminations, EPRC interacted…
Uganda could experience further fiscal deficits and public debt increases that will undermine her fiscal potential. The fiscal deficit, a situation where a country spends more than it earns, increased from UGX 4.1 trillion in 2015/16 to UGX 13.4 trillion in 2020/21, while the public debt increased from…
Two years after the Covid-19 pandemic swept the world, the haze around the true cost on the economy, businesses, jobs and lives is becoming clearer by day. The nationwide study, which forms part of the panel studies that are following enterprises during and after Covid-19, was carried out…
Extreme poverty in most African countries is projected to increase far much higher – and majorly among the poorest people – as economies emerge from the coronavirus pandemic. According to Dr. Ibrahim Kasirye, the director of research at the Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC), “partly because of the…
Since November 2021, EPRC has conducted several pieces of research analysing e rising cost of essential commodities. The analysis has focused on fuel and other essential commodities. As shown in Figure 1, several essential commodities have registered unusual surges in prices. For example, over the 3months period (December…
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in December 2019 and the subsequent search for an appropriate antidote, there have been mixed reactions in vaccine uptake globally. The COVID-19 vaccines manufactured have ranged from Johnson and Johnson, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, and Sinovac. Despite these efforts, Uganda, like many East…
Janine Cocker, the Head of Cooperation at the Canada High Commission in Nairobi recently paid a courtesy call to the Economic Policy Research Centre and its researchers to understand the Centre's research reach and how it feeds into both national and global development agendas. Cocker, who takes care…
Since the start of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic spread all over the world, countries including Uganda have adopted various measures to contain the spread of the virus and avert a humanitarian catastrophe. These include restricted international travel, closure of schools, imposing nationwide lockdowns, suspension of public, social…
Globally, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly disrupted education systems forcing learners and some schools to shift to virtual learning to curb the spread of the pandemic. While the pandemic has caused a drastic shift to digital learning spaces for mostly urban and children from well-to-do…
Private school teachers in Uganda faced the toughest time when their salaries dried up due to school closures. The Economic Policy Research Centre, a thinktank in Kampala, reported in May that 85% of private schools were not paying full teacher salaries due to financial challenges brought on by Covid-19.…