# Amin launches the 'Economic War' (1972-1973)

URL: https://allhistories.com/uganda/timeline/1973-amin-launches-the-economic-war
Location: Kampala, Uganda
Themes: main-event

After the expulsion of the Asians, Idi Amin declared an Economic War to put business into African hands. Asian-owned property was redistributed to army officers and supporters, and in 1973 British-owned estates and companies were taken over or nationalised. Prices climbed, shops emptied, and foreign exchange dried up as export crops fell and imported goods grew scarce. Coffee smuggling and a black market, called magendo, spread. With Asian managers gone and a series of Libyan and Soviet loans exhausted, factories deteriorated. Inflation reached triple digits by the late 1970s, and the government printed money to pay the army. Cotton and tea output shrank. The coffee price boom of 1976-77 gave Amin a brief lift, but infrastructure decayed, and by 1979 the economy had been devastated. Some foreign investors left permanently, while smugglers and soldiers gained. At the date of this event the principal authority over the largest part of present-day Uganda, by the convention of this dataset, lay with Idi Amin, President of Uganda (1971–1979). The Economic War taught Uganda that nationalism without competence could destroy the productive base. The recovery programmes of the 1980s and 1990s were designed largely to repair this damage. It also shows the human cost: shortages of sugar, salt and soap, and the decline of schools and hospitals, which lasted long after the regime ended.

## Why it matters
The Economic War collapsed the Ugandan economy and created the magendo culture that persisted for years.

Ruler at the Time: [Idi Amin](https://allhistories.com/uganda/rulers/idi-amin)

## Sources
- [Economy of Uganda](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Uganda)
- [1971 in Uganda](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_in_Uganda)
- [countrystudies.us](https://countrystudies.us/uganda/)