Opinion: having alienated western interests with its anti-gay stance, Uganda has had no such trouble attracting funds from China with the lure of new found oil riches. Diana Taremwa reports.

An oil boom is starting in east Africa and Uganda is at its forefront. In August, after months of exploration, the estimate for the country's crude reserves was doubled to 6.5 billion barrels. Having always depended on agriculture it remains Africa's biggest coffee exporter Uganda is poised to enter the continent's league of big petroleum producers.

The nation suffered a series of economic shocks last year. These included a decline in trade with neighbouring South Sudan once its biggest export market when civil war re-erupted over the border, and the freezing of development aid by the World Bank and other western powers after President Yoweri Museveni enacted a law (since quashed by the constitutional court) imposing life imprisonment for "aggravated homosexuality". Despite these setbacks, the outlook for growth is still positive. Relative political stability, combined with aid, helped Uganda's annual output to grow sixfold over two decades to reach $20bn in 2013-14. The International Monetary Fund expects GDP to expand by at least 6.4 per cent in the year to June 2015, compared with 6 per cent the year before.

The finance's ministry's estimate is 7 per cent and officials remain confident that a huge infrastructure programme makes this ambitious target achievable. The government is to invest heavily here this year as part of Museveni's effort to create jobs and spur GDP growth. Projects include the construction of four hydroelectric power stations, a $2.5bn oil refinery, an $8bn rail network and more than 1,200 miles of road. In 2013 he signed a deal with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, under which Beijing has supplied much of the loan finance for this programme. Uganda plans to repay it with future oil revenues.

This burgeoning relationship has made Museveni less...

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