Following the political upheavals of the 1970s and early 1980s, Uganda required substantial financial assistance to rebuild its social and economic infrastructure. The recovery program launched by the Obote government in 1982 called for US$1.7 billion in balance of payments and commodity support, but by 1985 many Western donor countries had decided to withhold financial support in protest against the government's poor human rights record. Many agencies again suspended disbursements at the end of 1985, when the short-lived Okello administration failed to end the political chaos. Upon coming to power in January 1986, President Museveni proposed an emergency six-month relief program that would cost US$160 million. Some international support was forthcoming, but most of the major bilateral and multilateral donors preferred to wait until the government had drawn up a more comprehensive plan. In 1987 the government responded with the RDP, which included a US$1.3 billion budget over four years. Approximately US$600 million of this amount was already funded when the plan was launched.

After launching the RDP, the government enjoyed the increasing confidence of Western donor nations (see table 8, Appendix). In 1988 donors pledged over US$377 million in aid, and Uganda received major support and a vote of confidence from both the IMF and the Paris Club. The IMF approved a purchase equivalent to US$33.7 million under the compensatory financing facility to cover an estimated shortfall in export earnings resulting from lower coffee revenues. In October 1988, a consultative group meeting in Paris arranged by the World Bank pledged aid and concessionary loans worth US$550 million. The Ugandan government told potential donors that the government needed a minimum new aid commitment of US$440 million in 1989 in order to meet its development targets and continue disbursements for existing commitments.

Data as of December 1990