Structural Transformation and Industrialisation Policy in Uganda: An Economic Policy and Planning Assessment of Constraints and Strategic Interventions

Despite sustained macroeconomic stability and successive national development frameworks, Uganda's structural transformation remains sluggish, characterized by premature deindustrialization and a dominant informal agrarian sector. This paper evaluates Uganda's industrialisation policy under the National Development Plans (NDP I, II, III, and IV), examining critical bottlenecks including high energy and logistics costs, financing gaps for SMEs, skill mismatches, and coordination failures. Utilizing an empirical growth framework and institutional analysis, we assess the efficacy of recent state interventions such as industrial parks, tax incentives, and the Parish Development Model (PDM). The findings indicate that while selective industrial policies have fostered pockets of manufacturing growth, weak backward and forward linkages, limited technological spill-overs, and credit rationing continue to constrain broad-based value addition. We propose an integrated planning matrix emphasizing strategic export-oriented industrialization, aggressive local content enforcement, targeted credit guarantees, and institutional coordination to accelerate Uganda's transition into a modern, competitive, and industrialized economy.