Donors withhold Shs608b over lack of work plans
The withheld funds formed 47.1 percent of planned disbursements under externally funded development expenditure. Photo / File
What you need to know:
- Development partners now demand that benefiting government institutions must submit work plans before project money y is disbursed
Development partners withheld Shs608.6b due to externally financed development activities during November, according to the Ministry of Finance.
In details contained in the Ministry of Finance December 19 Performance of the Economy report for the month ended November, government indicated that Shs608.61b worth of development expenditure was withheld from beneficiary government departments due to failure to submit supporting work plans.
The money, Finance Ministry indicated, was a 47.1 percent performance against the target during the period.
“It should be noted that performance of the external development budget is tied to the disbursement of funds by external development partners, which is done after receipt of interim payment certificates showing work accomplished by contractors,” the Ministry of Finance noted in the report.
Development partners use this system as a measure for accountability for funds advanced for various government institutions.
The system demands that funds are released after the benefiting institution has submitted its work plan.
During the period, the Ministry of Finance noted, expenditure and net lending amounted to Shs2.8 trillion, which was lower than the planned Shs3.1 trillion due to lower than planned spending on development activities.
However, expenditure on recurrent budget other than wage amounted to Shs1.1 trillion, which was 45.3 percent higher than the planned Shs765.7b.
This, the Ministry of Finance indicated was due to release of funds for the Parish Development Model and Emyooga that had been initially planned for quarter one in addition to a supplementary expenditure on Uganda Development Corporation for Atiak Sugar Factory.
Ministry of Finance data indicates that during November government spent Shs983.2b more, which was higher than the Shs797.7b.
During the month, revenue and grants amounted to Shs1.8 trillion, an 80.6 percent performance against the Shs2.306 trillion target.
Both grants and domestic revenue collections fell short of their respective targets. Domestic revenue collections amounted to Shs1.855 trillion, a 93.6 percent performance, of which Shs1.7 trillion was raised from taxes while Shs114.5b came from non-tax revenue.
