The Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury (PSST) of the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development, Ramathan Ggoobi, issued the second budget call circular on Monday, February 19, 2024, to all Accounting Officers and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of State-Owned Enterprises and Public Corporations on the finalisation of the budget for FY 2024/25.
The purpose of the circular was to communicate the priority areas of the budget for FY 2024/25, the recommendations of the Parliament of Uganda on the national budget framework paper for FY 2024/25, the government’s expenditure ceilings for FY 2024/25, and the medium term, as well as the policy and administrative guidelines.
“The priority areas include investing in the people of Uganda (human capital development), peace and security, roads and railways, electricity, funding money-earning interventions, effective management of natural disasters, and international commitments,” Ggoobi said.
Additionally, the government identified five key growth areas to grow the economy tenfold from the current base of USD 49.5 billion in FY 2023/24 to USD 500 billion over the next 15 years, starting in FY 2024/25, which are agro-industrialization, tourism development, mineral-based industrial development, oil and gas, including the petrochemical industry, as well as science, technology, and innovation (knowledge economy, research, and development).
In a related development, the preliminary resource envelope for FY 2023–24 was issued in the first budget call circular amounting to UGX 52.723 trillion, which has since been revised upwards to UGX 53.336 trillion, of which UGX 29.957 trillion is domestic revenue; UGX 311 billion is budget support; UGX 4.116 trillion is domestic borrowing; UGX 9.208 trillion is project support; UGX 9.455 trillion is domestic debt refinancing; and UGX 287.1 billion is non-tax revenue.
Although the overall budget has increased,the discretionary resource has been reduced by Shs.3.469 trillion from Shs.25.205 trillion to Shs.21.736 trillion.
Ggoobi urged accounting officers to ensure that fixed costs take the first call as they finalise their budgets.
