The Minister, who revealed this on Thursday, August 10, 2023, while addressing journalists at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala, said that Uganda has "other friends" who will fund EACOP. Lokeris was updating journalists on the progress of EACOP.
"We have many friends. Other people will give us the money, and that’s why the President [Museveni] said we don’t need them very much," Lokeries said before explaining that the EACOP project will be undertaken by private companies.
Lokeris’s remarks come against the backdrop of the World Bank decision announced on Wednesday, August 9, 2023, that all public financing for Uganda will be suspended.
The bank said that the Anti-Homosexuality Act, which was passed by Uganda early this year, is not in line with its core values.
President Museveni, however, fired back at the bank, saying that "Uganda will develop with or without loans."
Yesterday, the State Minister for Finance, Henry Musasizi, revealed that the Government plans to review the 2023–2024 national budget following the World Bank’s decision to halt the financing of some Ugandan projects over the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
The Minister, who was appearing before the parliamentary committee on finance on Thursday, August 10, 2023, said that the World Bank decision is likely to affect the emoluments of some public servants.
"We took a firm decision, and we agreed that we would face the consequences. We will be coming soon. I want to prepare your minds that very soon we are going to revise the budget downward, and we will be coming to you for support. Even the emoluments are going to be affected, given the preliminary results we are seeing. We shall be coming in one week or so to tell you the consequences and ask for your approval on how we shall move forward with the current challenges," Musasizi said.