The Permanent Secretary Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, and Secretary to the Treasury Ramathan Ggoobi, has revealed that government plans to grow the economy 10-fold from USD 50 billion to USD 500 billion in the next 15 years.
Ggoobi noted that this will be through the four anchor sectors of Agro-industrialization, Tourism development, Minerals development, oil and gas as well as Science Technology and innovation (ATMS).
The Secretary to the Treasury said that the government shall continue to focus on increasing revenue generation, controlling borrowing and ensuring efficiency and effectiveness in use of the limited resources at its disposal.
He made the remarks at the Launch of the National Budget Month FY 2024/25.
He said the key priorities of the budget for FY 2024/25 include, Investing in people of Uganda through human capital development, Peace and Security, Construction of standard gauge railway and metre gauge railway, Investing in wealth creation ( Emyooga,PDM,Agric. credit facility etc), Maintaining existing infrastructure
and Science,Technology and innovation.
Recently, Parliament passed the national budget for the Financial Year 2024/2025, approving a total expenditure of Shs72.136 trillion.
This was a significant increase of Shs14.050 trillion from the initial budget proposal of Shs58.34 trillion.
The budget comprises recurrent expenditure of Shs18.9 trillion and development expenditure of Shs34.7 trillion, with the total amount including statutory expenditure standing at Shs72.136 trillion.
The biggest portion of the budget, Shs32.3 trillion, will be sourced from domestic revenue (tax and non-tax revenue), while other sources include budget support (grants and loans) of Shs1.3 trillion and domestic financing (domestic borrowing) of Shs8.9 trillion.
Additional sources include project support of Shs 9.5 trillion and domestic debt refinancing (rollover) of Shs19.8 trillion.
In his remarks read by State Minister Evelyn Anite, Matia Kasaija, the Minister of Finance, Planning & Economic Development, said globally, all government policies are implemented to improve the wellbeing of citizens, adding that this can only be achieved through ensuring governance in the entire budget process.
He noted that the government of Uganda has over the years implemented a number of reforms to promote good governance in the budget process, among which is the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Civil Society organizations in 2018.