Research dissemination workshop: Government demand and firm performance

Can government procurement be used as an effective instrument to promote local industrial development? 

A few governments in Africa and the developing world have established reservation policies that favour domestic firms over import competition in public procurement. However, very little research has been conducted to assess the effectiveness of these programs.

Are sales to government linked to improvements in productivity – or are governments effectively subsidising firms that are not competitive? These questions are especially topical for Uganda’s industrial policy review, following the Government’s recently adopted ‘Buy Uganda, Build Uganda’ policy and the ongoing compilation of the country’s Local Content Bill.

IGC has begun to analyse this question in a new paper authored by Bernard Hoekman and Marco Sanfilippo, which investigates whether participation in public procurement is associated with improvements in measures of firm performance. To share the key findings from this paper, IGC hosts a two-hour research dissemination workshop in partnership with the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and the Uganda Economics Association (UEA).

To find out more about the workshop, please email Ritwika Sen at [email protected].