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Date: | Fri, 10 Apr 1998 17:52:43 -0500 |
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WALL STREET JOURNAL
Friday, April 10, 1998
WORLD WATCH
UGANDA AWARDED DEBT-RELIEF DEAL OF $650 MILLION
Only days ago, President Clinton visited a school house in a small village
in Uganda speaking with wide-eyed kids eager for the simplest tools to
further their education. Though the East African nation is a long way from
hooking up every child to the Internet, the approval of a key $650 million
debt-relief package by the World Bank and the international Monetary Fund
is likely to free up more money for teachers and textbooks in a country
where much of the population is still illiterate. The institutions say
they will begin the program within a matter of weeks, adding that still
poor Uganda, once dominated by the bloody dictatorship of Idi Amin, is
currently "one of the strongest performing economies in Africa."
Western diplomats and fund managers say that as a result of the kind words
and the aid package, global investors are more likely to look at Uganda
first when focusing on the east African region, despite the sophistication
of neighboring Kenya and economic progress in Tanzania. The package is the
first disbursal of funds under a project to reward low-income debtor states
that have a strong record of reform with the most generous debt-relief
terms ever offered.
UGANDA PROFILE:
GDP per capita - $551 (1997 US$)
Infant mortality - 98 deaths/1,00 births
Avg. no. of children - 6.7/family (1995)
Life expectancy - 41.7 years (1995)
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