The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Major General (rtd) Kahinda Otafiire, has told the 2017 General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that protection of traditional knowledge and the country’s genetic resources from misappropriation is a key ingredient of Uganda’s  National Intellectual Property strategy for promoting creativity and innovation.

Minister Otafiire, who is leading a Ugandan delegation at the Assembly, said the two major components are aimed at promoting access to alternative health care, food security, preservation of biodiversity and sustainable development.

The WIPO member states and decision-making bodies are meeting this week in Geneva, Switzerland from October 2-11, 2017 hoping to reach a decision to convene a high-level meeting to conclude a potential international instrument(s) or Treaty in 2019 aimed at preventing the misappropriation of genetic resources, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions.

African countries are primary beneficiaries of this treaty because the modern intellectual property system does not adequately protect traditional knowledge systems or local inventions based on genetic resources/traditional cultural artifacts/materials.

In his statement, Otafiire told the Assembly that a potential treaty to protect genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore, at the international level is a priority issue for Uganda in the WIPO. “Traditional knowledge systems in Uganda have long been used to ensure access to alternative medicines, promote sustainable agricultural production and conserve the environment,” he said.

The WIPO has been a key development partner for Uganda in the field of intellectual property undertaking technical assistance activities to encourage innovation and protection of intellectual property including; technical support to Uganda in upgrading and maintenance of the Intellectual Property Automated System (IPAS); training and capacity building for human resources; support in the form a regional workshop on intellectual property and traditional knowledge for economic development.

WIPO member states have a task to negotiate the renewal of the mandate of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC), which expired in June 2017. The IGC has always held a renewable two-year mandate since it commenced text based negotiations in 2009.  It will be particularly important for African countries, as key demanders for protection of genetic resources and traditional knowledge to ensure that the General Assembly agrees to convene a diplomatic conference to conclude a treaty in 2019.

The WIPO General Assembly will also decide, among other things, the approval of the program and budget of the organization for the 2018/2019 biennium; furthering discussions for potential treaties to protect broadcasting organizations (the Broadcast Treaty) and simplifying the international applications for industrial designs – the Design Law Treaty (DLT).

In other discussions, the WIPO General Assembly will discuss reports from various committees. At the WIPO General Assembly each committee reports on its activities over the past year. Of particular importance to Uganda and other developing countries is the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) as well as the Committee on the Law of Patents.

In a related development, on Monday, several officers were elected to various offices. Uganda’s Mr. Bemanya Twebaze, the Registrar General of Uganda Registration Service Bureau, was elected the President of the Paris Union Assembly, and Ambassador Christopher Onyanga Aparr, the Permanent Representative of Uganda to the United Nations Office in Geneva, is serving as the Second Vice Chairman of the Coordination Committee.

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To meet the global demand of Uganda’s flower exports, local investors have decided to invest an extra US$17 million in the sector over the next four years.

Local firms Wagagai Ltd, Ugarose Flowers Ltd and Jambo Rose said in Kampala that they cannot meet the demand of flowers on the international market due to limited production attributed to high costs and shortage of land to establish greenhouses.

During the four-year period, Wagagai Ltd will invest extra US$14.1 million between 2017 and 2021. Jambo Roses said it would inject US$1.8million while Ugarose Flowers would raise US$1.9 million.

The Jambo Roses Ltd Chief Executive Officer Daniel Kiryango said the extra investment would be used to procure more land for greenhouses expansion and also to buy inputs and machinery.

“The target is to see that, we increase production capacity by using modern technology and expanding the farming acreage. By 2021, we shall be in position to compete with our counterparts in other countries like Kenya and Ethiopia,” Kiryango said.

The Managing Director of Ugarose Limited, Stanley Musiime, urged government to create flower growing zones as it has done with the development of industrial parks across the country. “The same should be done to flower sector,” he said.

Juliet Musoke, the Executive Director of Uganda Flowers Exporters Association said Uganda exports only 8,000 tons annually in light of the challenges of cold rooms at Entebbe Airport, high cost of electricity and inadequate land for flower farmers.

She said if the challenges can be addressed Uganda has the capacity to export 20,000 tonnes of flowers.

“We appeal to the government to enter into joint partnerships where we can pull resources and construct modern storage facilities at the airport to ease the problem of poor storage,” said Musoke.

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Bank of Uganda has described the growth of private sector credit as ‘sluggish’, forcing the bank to cut its central bank rate (CBR) to 9.5 percent in October, down from 10 percent in September in a bid to boost commercial lending in the country.

According to the BOU Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile, the cut in the CBR among other objectives is meant to encourage commercial banks in the country to lower their prime lending rates (PLR) downwards.

Mutebile says commercial bank interest rates have continued to ease, in response to the ‘accommodative’ monetary policy stance.

In July 2017, the average lending rate on shilling denominated loans declined to 20.9 percent from 21.1 percent in June 2017.

Lending rates on shilling loans have declined gradually from 25.2 percent in February 2017 although slight increases were observed in May and June 2017 owing to elevated rates on loans to the agriculture and trade sectors.

Currently, a few commercial banks in the country have their PLR tagged at below 20 percent, sending away majority of the would-be borrowers who want the cash for production.

According to BOU, growth in private sector credit remains relatively subdued, despite the protracted monetary policy easing. It grew by a dismal 4.3 percent in financial year 2016/17, which is much lower than 15.2 percent in the previous financial year. Average annual growth declined in the quarter ended June 2017 to 5.5 percent, from 6.5 percent in the quarter ended April 2017 driven by shilling denominated loans.

Commercial banks have continued to tighten credit to the private sector in light of past high default rates as well as slow gross domestic product growth which ended at 3.9 percent in financial year 2016/17. Meanwhile, demand for credit as shown by the number and value of loan applications remains robust while supply as shown by the number and value of loan approvals remains subdued.

“Given that annual core inflation is forecast to remain around the mediumterm target of 5 percent and economic activity is slowly gaining momentum, a cautious easing of monetary policy is warranted to boost private sector credit growth and to strengthen the economic growth momentum. The BoU has therefore decided to reduce the Central Bank Rate  by 0.5 percentage points to 9.5 percent,” Mutebile says in the latest Monetary statement for October.

BOU records show that since January 2017, value of loan applications has averaged about Shs. 1,536 billion, while value of approvals has averaged Shs753 billion per month.

“The significant disparity between value of loan applications and approvals is in part a reflection of the supply-side constraints to growth in private sector credit,” BOU says.

Analysts say all is not lost as far as private sector credit growth is concerned as non-performing loans (NPLs) go down. For instance, the ratio of NPLs to total loans declined to 6.2 percent in second quarter of 2017, from 6.3 percent in first quarter.

The latest quarterly GDP data released at end September 2017 by UBOS indicates that growth recovered in the second half of 2016/17. Quarterly growth rates of only 0.6 percent and 1.1 percent were recorded in the first two quarters of 2016/17, mainly because of bad weather that affected the agricultural sector. But growth rates accelerated to 1.8 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively, in the third and fourth quarters of the financial year.

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Stanbic Bank has released its Purchase Managers Index (PMI) for September which indicates that there has been a slight decline in the headline index.

Announcing the results at a press briefing in Kampala Jibran Qureshi, Standard Banks regional economist for East Africa, noted however, that even  though  the  headline  PMI  fell  to  53.8  from 54.1 in  August,  the  average  of  54.1  in  the  three months  to  September  was  still  higher  than  the average of 51.6 in the first half of the year.

A strong performance  from  the  coffee  sector has supported growth but  the  recent armyworm infestation could still pose as a threat to food crops prices and agricultural  productivity  towards  the back  end  of the  year.  That  said,  a  gradual improvement  in private  sector  credit  growth should  bode  well  for domestic demand.

The Ugandan private sector is being encouraged to increase its interest for credit in a bid to boost economic activity.

In the recent monetary policy statement for October, the Central Bank announced a further downward revision of the Central Bank Rate (CBR), the fifth in the past nine months. At just 9.5% the CBR now stands at its lowest level since the introduction of the CBR in 2011.

The BOU Governor Emmanuel Mutebile explained the reasons behind the rate cut. “Given that annual  core inflation is forecast to remain around the  medium term  target  of  5% and  economic  activity  is  slowly  gaining momentum,  a  cautious  easing  of  monetary  policy  is  warranted  to  boost private  sector  credit  growth  and  to  strengthen  economic growth,” he said.

Analysing the performance of the various business sectors Stanbic monitors to conduct the PMI research, Jibran revealed, that agricultural, industry, services and wholesale and retail sectors  continued  to  register  growth  of  output  and  new business  inflows  in  September. Meanwhile, construction output decreased as the sector saw no change in new orders. Overall input costs however rose across each sector, he said.

Looking at employment where workforce numbers increased on the back of new projects and heightened demand, Jibran noted Overall job creation is a trend we have witnessed since the inception of the survey 16 months ago.

He noted that bigger new orders had also led Ugandan private sector firms to increase their quantities of purchases for the fourth month running.

Inventories grew as a consequence. Meanwhile, firms  were  able  to  work  through  their backlogs of  work,  with  the  latest  decline  in  outstanding business the sixteenth in as many months.

The Stanbic PMI is a composite index, calculated as a weighted average of five individual sub-components: New Orders (30%), Output (25%), Employment (20%), Suppliers Delivery Times (15%) and Stocks of Purchases (10%).

Readings above 50.0 signal an improvement in business conditions on the previous month, while readings below 50.0 show deterioration.

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