Overview:
According to the circular, Mr Ggoobi said government will not be borrowing any more money to support its budget in the next financial year 2023/24,
The government of Uganda has, in a series of austerity measures, suspended salary enhancement by one year and frozen the purchase of new vehicles during the next Financial Year 2023/24.
It has also said foreign trips will only be reserved for members of Executive, Judiciary, and Parliament.
The measures are contained in a Second Budget Call Circular for the next Financial Year 2023/2024 issued by Ramathan Ggoobi, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, on Saturday.
According to the circular, Mr Ggoobi said government will not be borrowing any more money to support its budget in the next financial year 2023/24, implying that no government agency shall receive an increase in the budget.
The preliminary resource envelope for the 2023/24 financial year has been adjusted upwards to Shs50.871 trillion from Shs47.328 trillion in FY 2022/23.
On 1st February 2022, Parliament passed the Budget Framework Paper of Shs49.98 trillion for the next financial year 2023/2024 to be financed through domestic revenue equivalent to Shs28.83 trillion, budget support amounting to 2.491 trillion, domestic borrowing 1.585 trillion, external project support worth 8.04 trillion, domestic refinancing of 8.798 trillion, and local revenue for local government (AIA) of 238.5 billion Shillings.
While commissioning facilities at Uganda Petroleum Institute-Kigumba (UPIK), a training facility for oil exploration in January, President Museveni said he was putting a blanket ban on travel abroad by members of Parliament and civil servants to save money for other priority sectors.
“Tell the civil servants, the MPs and all politicians to stop travelling abroad. Money is wasted on external travel and here Kigumba is crying for money. This is really poor planning,” the President said.
According to the Finance circular, the Parish Development Model (PDM) allocation of 1.059 trillion has been maintained in the budget for the 2023/24 financial year to create socio-economic transformation.
During the extended period of the Covid-19 lockdown by imposed President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the Government saved over 100 billion Shillings on foreign trips such as trips for medical treatment, conferences, and consultations among others.
According to Parliament’s Committee on Budget and National Economy, during 2020/2021 the period spanning the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government reserved Shs 167.4 billion in accumulated foreign travel expenses across all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies – MDAs.
This implies that on average, the Government spends at least 13.9 billion Shillings in foreign travel every month.
During the year under review, the Parliamentary Commission program budget revealed that 420 billion was allocated exclusively for MPs’ allowances and foreign travel up from 400.7 billion Shillings in 2020/2021.
By the end of last year, with 426 legislators in the 10th Parliament, Parliament had spent 207 billion Shillings of the 420 billion allocations by end of the financial year.
This was attributed largely to the lockdown that forced many lawmakers to remain in the after other countries shut down to contain the spread of Covid-19.