Treasury to save Shs320 billion annually from finance reforms

Bank of Uganda headquarters in Kampala. File photo

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Expenditure. The reforms are yielding positive results in terms of saving and efficiency.

Kampala. The government expects to save Shs320 billion annually following the clean-up of ‘ghost’ workers from the payroll by decentralising it.
The Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development says preliminary analysis of the quarter one wage bill performance for the entire government indicates that it is likely to save Shs100 billion, but due to the discounting mechanism, promotion and recruitment activities, it leaves it with a net saving of Shs80 billion per quarter.
Secretary to the Treasury Keith Muhakanizi, during the launch of the annual Budget Monitoring Report for Financial Year 2013/14 last week at the finance ministry headquarters said the reforms are yielding positive results in terms of savings and efficiency in public finance management.
“Saving on the wage bill is Shs80 billion on quarterly basis and on annual basis is Shs320 billion. This is good progress for us regarding public finance management,” he said.
Unlike in the past where it has been losing a lot in salary payments to ‘ghost’ workers on the payroll, the huge saving being made is providing the ministry of finance with additional resources to cater for other public needs, thanks to reforms that the ministry implemented starting July 2013.
“Reforms are starting to yield good results. However, we must address the remaining challenges in the public service to get value for money that is being spent,” Mr Muhakanizi he said.
Mr Muhakanizi once again reiterated that the Treasury is committed to delivering timely release of budget funds to respective ministries, departments and agencies.
Highlighting how theTreasury has been releasing money for this financial year, he said for the first quarter, the ministry released on July 1, and in quarter two he released money on October 3. But there were delays in budget approval by parliamentarians which negatively on government programmes.

Processing payrolls
Processing the payroll and approval of salary payments has been transferred from the Ministry of Public Service and Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development respectively to the various accounting officers.