The surge in gold prices has catalyzed a historic trade surplus and currency appreciation, demonstrating how leveraging natural resources can create immediate macroeconomic stability. As a result, Uganda, long celebrated for its robust coffee exports, with a formalized and booming gold refinery sector, has transformed into a regional trade hub. To explore Uganda’s golden rise, Pan-African Frequency had an insightful conversation with Dr. Peter Babyenda, the policy engagement coordinator at the College of Business and Management Sciences, Makerere University, Uganda, as he explains what this boom means for the broader African market, regional stability, and the continent’s voice in global finance.
“It is true we see a gold surge, and more especially here in Uganda. There are factors to that. As a country, Uganda is endowed with gold reserves, and we have largely been having informal activities on the gold, but now we have a law, that allows even some companies now to formally join gold extraction. So that led to the increase in gold. But two, the value addition. So now we have refineries that have come up [....] Uganda for the first time recorded a trade surplus; that means the surge in gold contributed to that [....] But we also have industrial and trade deals that Uganda may negotiate with other countries, for example, Ghana and Kenya, and start to have joint refineries, as well as joint EAC, COMESA, and African Continental Free Trade Area [initiatives] to favor the local refining,” Babyenda highlighted.
Curious to hear more? Tune in to the full conversation on the Pan-African Frequency podcast, brought to you by Sputnik Africa.
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