Published on 30/11/2023
Finance Ministry permanent secretary Ramathan Ggoobi says the focus of the budget for the next financial year is the same as that of the current one.“There is a need to ensure continuity because this year’s budget is a good one which only requires implementation, consistency, pragmatism with resources and the challenges at hand,” he says.
He made the remarks on Thursday, November 30, 2023, while appearing on one of the TV morning talk shows in Kampala.
The theme of this financial year’s budget is the “Full Monetisation of Uganda’s Economy Through Commercial Agriculture, Industrialisation, Expanding and Broadening Services, Digital Transformation, and Market Access”.
Ggoobi, who is also the country’s Secretary to the Treasury, urged Ugandans to follow government money pumped into several development projects.
“The Government has put money into several projects and you need to tap into them. I send about shillings eight trillion to people every quarter. People should know there is no longer money from deals; that tap is closed,” he said.
He also said Uganda’s economy has displayed resilience and continued on the right recovery path and it’s among the few economies globally which is relatively stable.
He argued that this is not by good luck, but good co-ordination and strategies by the Government which have ensured the availability of foreign exchange-supported international trade, and proper management of inflation, which was at 2.4% in October 2023 below the target of 5%.
“The export performance has improved and the trade deficit has reduced by about 9%,” he said, adding that tourism has also improved bringing in $1,066.41 million in the financial year 2022/23 as well as more foreign direct investment inflows, $2,842.65m in the financial year 2022/23 from $1,688.56m the previous year.
Ggoobi also assured medical interns that their money is available in the budget and will be paid accordingly.
In July 2023, the health ministry cleared and deployed over 1,900 medical interns at its 58 internship centres across the country after long delays, which saw some interns striking and being arrested by the Police in Kampala.
The Federation for Uganda Medical Interns recently gave the Government up to December 1 to clear their three-month arrears.
