According to the Finance Ministry, the Ugandan parliament has approved the government’s intention to increase spending by 10% to 52.73 trillion shillings ($14 billion) in the 2023–24 fiscal year.
The government’s spending intentions must be approved by the parliament before they can be formally announced in a budget speech. Fiscal year goes from July through June.
Early next month, the finance minister is expected to deliver the 2023–24 budget to the legislature.
The Finance Ministry announced on Twitter on Thursday that the parliament has approved the planned total spending for that fiscal year.
The government put their spending at 48.1 trillion shillings for the current fiscal year.
The Energy, Transport, Works, and Health Ministries have gotten the lion’s share of the funding in recent years, but the Finance Ministry did not specify how the cash would be distributed.
The administration is allegedly highly reliant on borrowing to fund spending, according to opposition members.
“Borrowing has significantly increased over the years, thence gradually increasing the cost of credit. This has undermined the private sector whereby the acquisition of credit has become expensive,” Mathias Mpuuga, official leader of the opposition in parliament, said on Twitter as part of their response to the proposed spending.
In order to fund infrastructure and other development projects, the government rationalised its borrowing by stating that it was essential.
To reduce pressure on debt servicing, the finance ministry announced this year that it will not engage in any external borrowing in 2023–2024.
