Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Hon. Matia Kasaija is expected Wednesday afternoon to read out the 2016/17 National Budget.
It is highly hoped that an early morning Parliamentary session that was called today will approve the Minister (who was reappointed on Monday) to perform this duty.
A sneak peek into the UGX 26 Trillion Budget that will be read out before Parliament at the Kampala Serena Hotel, is prioritizing infrastructure development as has been the case with the previous ones.
The largest chunk of allocation however, is going to finance the country’s expanding public debt. A total of 6.4 trillion is expected to be allocated to interest payments. Last year, the Minister allocated UGX6.6 trillion to debt repayments and interest on total debt.
Minister Kasaija had last year projected that the country’s public debt would have exceeded US$ 7.6 billion by end of this closing financial year, compared to US$ 7.2 billion in the previous year.
Thanks to Uganda’s increasing borrowing majorly to fund infrastructure development, Uganda’s external debt stock now stands at 60 percent.
As expected, the Works and Transport Ministry dominates all the other sectors, taking a total of Shs. 3.8 trillion.
The education sector has also been greatly prioritized, getting Sh2.75 trillion, up from Shs. 2.04Trillion last year, while the Energy and Minerals will take Sh2.4 trillion.
Health comes in at Number 5 with Sh1.85 trillion while national security will get Sh1.59 trillion, down from 1.6 trillion last year.
Meanwhile, the agricultural sector which remains the county’s single largest employer will be allocated Shs. 800billion. The allocation to the agricultural sector has however, near doubled from 479.96 billion in the previous Financial Year.
Minister Kasaija is also expected to remove taxes from Agricultural equipment to encourage mechanization and large scale production.
The budget is also expected to introduce new taxes on sugar and cigarettes while teachers will get a pay rise.
Other sectors:
Accountability – Sh1.25 trillion
Public sector management – Sh1.2 trillion
Justice/Law and Order Sh1.12 trillion