Uganda government’s fiscal operations register surplus of Shs730 billion

During December 2024, the Uganda government’s fiscal operations resulted in a fiscal surplus of Shs 737.17 billion, surpassing the projected surplus of Shs 67.59 billion for the month.

The higher than planned surplus was largely on account of lower than projected expenses incurred during the month (lower by 13.6 percent) and a surplus in tax collections for the month.

This is contained in the Performance of the Economy Report for December 2024 as published by the Ministry of Finance.

 During the month, revenue amounted to Shs 3.909.79 trillion against a target of Shs 3.673.72 trillion. This performance was mainly explained by tax revenue which registered a surplus of Shs 310.73 billion during the month, more than offsetting the shortfalls under other revenue (non-tax revenue) and grants that were also below target.

Tax collections for the month amounted to Shs 3.625.08 trillion against a target of Shs 3.314.35 trillion. This performance was mainly explained by higher than the projected profitability of firms and sales induced by the increased economic activity during the festive season as well as Government clearing its tax obligations for most of the first half of FY2024/25 in December 2024. Ultimately, taxes on income and profits or direct taxes totaled Shs 2.070.71 trillion, registering a surplus of Shs 291.64 billion.

Taxes on international trade as well as taxes on goods and services or consumption taxes also registered surpluses of Shs 38.76 billion and Shs 4.16 billion against their respective targets for the month. Other revenue (non-tax revenue) collections were Shs 125.72 billion against a target of Shs 173.99 billion, registering a shortfall of Shs 48.27 billion. Additionally, grants expected to finance development activities in the budget were short of projection by Shs 17.66 billion. Additionally, Government had initially projected to receive a budget support grant disbursement of Shs 8.74 billion in December 2024. However, this was disbursed in earlier months of the financial year.

In December 2024, Government expenses amounted to a total of Shs 2.587.50 trillion. This was against projected expenses of Shs 2.993.38 trillion implying a performance of 86.4 percent. Grants (transfers), including to local governments, tertiary institutions and referral hospitals, as well as expenses on social benefits were higher than initially planned by 38.5 percent and 18.2 percent respectively signifying improved service delivery to the local communities. On the other hand, compensation of employees and purchase of goods and services were significantly lower than 18 projected for the month.