Okonjo-iweala warns Ugandan Govts Against Handing Out Bailouts during a Memorial Lecture

The former finance minister in Nigeria, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has warned Government over bailouts for financially distressed companies saying structured criteria should be put in place, New Vision, Ugandan newspaper reports.

“What is the criteria of a bailout?” Dr. Ngozi asked.

“We need to be careful and look at case by case. What underlines the failure of the enterprise?

“Bailout issue is very tricky. We have to be careful when using the public money you can’t use blanket approach but have to study case by case,” she said.

Dr. Ngozi who is the current chair of GAVI board also tasked Bank of Uganda to find a solution to high-interest rates after the public raised their concern of high interests. “What is the systematic cause of high-interest rates?” she asked.

The central bank needs to sit down with commercial banks to chat the way forward she advised.

She also appealed to government and other stakeholders to address the issue of youth unemployment saying that if it is not addressed “we are sitting on a time bomb” Louis Kasekende the deputy governor Bank of Uganda told a fully packed conference hall that the institution is committed to consumer protection.

The former finance minister Dr. Ezra Suruma appealed to the central bank to exercise independence and not to be swayed by the political leaders. The memorial lecture was held under the theme: “African Central Banks: Rethinking their roles or staying the course? Learning from global experience.”

Participants queued up to ask questions, poured out their anger and frustration over the hardships experienced in doing business. Present were politicians FDC’s Cecilia Ogwal, academia Prof. Ddumba Ssentamu the vice chancellor of Makerere University among others.