President Yoweri Museveni has said that markets can help to unleash initiatives, efficiency and enthusiasm and can bring in a lot of wealth provided they are regulated.
President Museveni was this evening contributing at the 20th Joseph Mubiru Memorial lecture whose topic is “Market Failures in the Financial System: Implications for Financial Sector Policies, especially in Developing Countries”, at Speke Resort Munyonyo.
The guest presenter at this years’ Joseph Mubiru Memorial Lecture, was Professor Joseph Stiglitz, a renowned economist and Professor of Economics at Columbia University in USA.
The late Joseph Mubiru was the first Governor of Bank of Uganda, a post he was appointed to in 1966. The Executive Committee of the Uganda Institute of Bankers decided to remember late Mubiru by holding annual lectures, launching the first lecture in 1988.
President Museveni noted that markets could not fix everything but create freedom of action by private players in the economy. He pointed out that the basic stimuli that could lead a pre-social economy into a market-based economy include private sector-led growth, infrastructure development, value addition, human resource development, health, knowledge based-industry, democracy, peace and security.
President Museveni observed that in Africa, the problem is lack of markets and that is why political and economic integration are very crucial.
The guest speaker, Professor Joseph Stiglitz, a former Economic Advisor to former US President Bill Clinton, emphasized the need to regulate financial institutions to avoid market failures. He also called on financial institutions to exercise a high degree of transparency in corporate governance.
The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Ms. Maria Kiwanuka, moderated the discussion of the lecture whose other discussants included Professor Mahmood Mamdani who is Director of Makerere Institute of Social Research.
Speaking at the same occasion, the Governor of Bank of Uganda, Professor Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile told the audience that the late Joseph Mubiru, who was murdered in 1972 by the Amin regime, is remembered for his excellence, integrity and dedication to service which has inspired all his successors.
The widow of late Joseph Mubiru, Mrs. Mary Mubiru, was present at the lecture.
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