Government tables Shs49.9t budget

The government yesterday tabled the draft budget estimates for the Financial Year 2023/2024, increasing projected expenditure by Shs1.8 trillion.
The budget is projected to increase from Shs48.1 trillion in the current financial year to Shs49.9 trillion in the coming one.
Finance minister Matia Kasaija yesterday tabled the Budget Framework paper for the financial year 2023/2024 on the floor of Parliament in line with the Public Finance and Management Act (PFMA as amended). 
The law mandates the Finance minister to table the Budget Framework Paper by December 31.

The Budget Framework Paper (BFP) is the overall strategy document for the budget, and provides the link between the government’s policies and the annual budget. 
It outlines revenue projections; the overall resource envelope for the medium-term; priority interventions; and proposed sectoral expenditure plans. But these estimates have been known to change over the past years, signalling that the budget could hit the Shs50 trillion mark.
The BFP for the current fiscal year had put the budget at Shs43 trillion, but rose to Shs48.1 trillion.

The Shs49.9t budget will be funded through domestic revenues (Shs28.8 trillion), budget support (Shs2.4 trillion), domestic borrowing (Shs1.5 trillion), external project support (Shs8 trillion), domestic refinancing (Shs8.7 trillion) while revenue from local governments will amount to Shs238 billion.
While the resource envelope has increased, the funds available for government expenditure reduced from Shs37.4 trillion to Shs37.2 trillion.
About Shs8.5 trillion of the budget will go to debt repayments, up from the Shs7 trillion estimates of the 2022/23 BFP. Uganda currently owes Shs80 trillion.

“Over the medium term, external debt payments are projected to increase due to the increase in commercial loans over the last few years. Going forward, governments financing strategy is to reduce borrowing on commercial terms and focus more on concessional borrowing,” the BFP states.
Like the current budget, the government says the budget will focus on creating wealth among the people, and will run under the theme “Full monetisation of the Ugandan Economy through commercial agriculture, industrialisation, expanding and broadening services digital transformation and market access, same as one of the current financial year.
The documents indicate that the government will focus on, among others, import replacement, job creation, infrastructure investment, green growth and debt sustainability.

The government projects that the economy will grow at six percent from the current 4.7 percent, while inflation is expected to fall to 7.2 percent. The shilling is, however, expected to depreciate due to the global strengthening of the US dollar.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa yesterday sent the paper to the Committee on Budget for scrutiny.