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.…
COVID-19 and its containment measures in Uganda, especially lockdowns, have resulted into new inequalities and exacerbated the existing gaps between the rich and the poor, including the vulnerable[1]. However, a more credible and supportive fiscal policy could reduce the intensity and magnitude of the expected increase in socio-economic…
Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc and reverse the gains made in creating resilient and sustainable social-economic systems supporting young people’s lives, livelihoods and businesses. For instance, the International Labour Organisation shows that one in six young people aged 18-29 stopped working (about 17.4 percent) because…
Uganda’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)are “hanging in there” to see the next day with the majority of them far from being resilient, a rapid assessment study by the Economic Policy Research Centre has established. The assessment is part of a three-year study supported by the International…