Knowledge Genie

It was done in AFRICA AND THEY SUFFERED BADLY In August 1972, dictator *Idi Amin* ordered the expulsion of all Asians from Uganda - about 80,000 people, mostly of Indian origin who had been there since the late 1800s building the Uganda Railway. He gave them *90 days to leave*, calling it an "economic war" to give Uganda back to ethnic Ugandans. He accused Indians of "milking the economy" and said God told him in a dream to expel them. They were allowed to take only $120 and 220 kg of property, and some 5,655 firms, ranches, farms, shops, sugar estates and factories were confiscated and handed over to his soldiers and cronies via the Departed Asians Property Custodian Board. 5458 What happened next: - Trade networks collapsed - the Indian community was 1% of the population but paid ∼90% of taxes and ran most of the commerce. - Shops emptied, factories shut down, sugar and soap disappeared from shelves. - GDP fell ∼5% in 3 years, manufacturing output collapsed from 740 million to 254 million shillings by 1979, real wages fell 90%, and by the time Amin was overthrown the economy had shrunk more than 40%. Years later President Yoweri Museveni in 1986 invited the community back and started returning seized properties, but the economy never fully recovered its pre-1972 trajectory.