[Book Review] Reducing Poverty On Credit

from All Africa

New Vision (Kampala)

By Gawaya Tegulle
Kampala

Title: Credit and Reduction of Poverty in Uganda: Structural Adjustment Reforms in Context

Author: William Muhumuza

Publishers: Fountain Publishers

WHILE the reduction of poverty has become a major development policy objective worldwide, the debate continues as to the most effective way to actually reduce poverty.

The belief is that credit programmes are important in speeding up wealth creation among the poor and improving their welfare, and to this end, billions of dollars have flowed from the west into Sub-Saharan Africa, where the majority of the world's poor live.

Credit and Reduction of Poverty in Uganda focuses on Uganda, where the NRM Government fully embraced credit as one of the policy strategies to reduce poverty - under the auspices of the IMF and World Bank.

This book explains how this has been done and raises questions on its effectiveness, before offering alternatives.

It is an insight into the interplay between political decisions and economic policies and processes in difficult contexts.

Though the book is about Uganda, it is also a microcosm of the broader Sub-Saharan Africa and its relation to the IMF and World Bank.