Africa-Press – Uganda. President Museveni or his delegated official of choice will on June 15 deliver the budget speech, detailing the breakdown of how the Shs52 trillion budget for Financial Year 2023/2024 will be implemented.
While the budget for the Financial Year 2023/2024 which starts in July has increased by close to Shs4 trillion from the current financial year’s outlay (Shs49.13 trillion), less money will be available for development and investment. This is in comparison to the current financial year.
Only Shs25.16 trillion of the Shs52 trillion is available for distribution to government entities, a reduction by Shs24 billion compared to the current financial year.
This has been attributed to the hike in public debt that sucked away some billions from discretionary spending in the form of interest rate payments.
Shs17.1 trillion has been allocated for debt servicing as Uganda’s public debt burden soars.
Uganda’s public debt is more than Shs80 trillion.
Shs200 billion has been allocated for domestic arrears whose total now stands at Shs2.7 trillion while Shs6.1 trillion will go to interest payments.
The parliamentary Committee on Budget raised a red flag on the soaring debt, and cautions the government to be “more cautious in contracting future debt if public debt is to remain at sustainable levels.”
“[The] government should be committed to fiscal discipline … government should ensure that over the medium term, borrowing is limited to critical projects while minimising acquisition of debt on non-concessional terms,” the committee advises.
Allocations
Sectoral allocations show that the Defence ministry will receive Shs 3.8 trillion, which is the lion’s share, followed by Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) at Shs 2.4 trillion.
The Health ministry has been allocated Shs1.6 trillion; Education and Sports Shs600 billion; Works and Communication Shs1.1 trillion; Energy and Mineral Development Shs2.27 trillion; and Agriculture Shs1 trillion.
The tourism industry, one of the potential areas of high return highlighted by President Museveni in his State of the Nation Address on Wednesday, will have to work with Shs219 billion.
Specifically, the Uganda Tourism Board will receive Shs25.8 billion.
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