The Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (MoFPED) has released Ugx 5,084.59 billion for quarter four of the financial year 2022/2023.
The money which caters for the months April to June is equivalent to 22.6% of the government of Uganda budget of the ending financial year.
As at end of the Third Quarter, this Ministry had released Ugx 20,428.92 billion, representing 78.6% of the approved budget
According to the ministry Permanent Secretary Ramathan Ggoobi, Ugx 1,600 billion to cater for wages and salaries across government while Ugx 193.63 billion to Local Governments including Education Capitation Grants (Ugx. 111.71 billion) to cater for Term 11 of the school year.
Ugx 137.974 billion has been released to Uganda Road Fund for maintenance of roads. This ensures 100% of releases to Road Fund which is Ugx. 485 billion;
The National Medical Stores has been allocated Ugx 110.388 billion for purchase of essential drugs and medicines. This ensures 100% of releases to NMS which is Ugx 489 billion.
Key among the releases is the Ugx 60.458 billion allocated to Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) for road maintenance and drainage (Ugx 40 billion). This is an increase from Ugx 13.9 billion which was released in Quarter Three and ensures that the total GOU development expenditure for KCCA has been released.
Additionally, Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) has been allocated Ugx 311.202 billion for road construction.
Ugx. 264.566 has been allocated to Parish the Development Model (PDM). This makes the total release to PDM to Ugx 1,059.4 billion.
Ministry of Works and Transport (MoWT) has been allocated Ugx 30.769 billion of which Ugx 27 billion will support Uganda Airlines.
Ugx 228.377 billion has been released to cater for payment of pension and gratuity for the retired civil servants and Ugx 1,001.208 billion to Local government. This translates to 23.85% of the approved Local Government budget.
Ggoobi urged accounting officers to prioritize payment of service providers on time and avoid accumulation of arrears.
He said there should be display of the payrolls for salaries and monthly pensions on government institutions and cost centre (schools, health centres, departments etc.) notice boards every month.
“Accounting officers must ensure timely submission of performance reports and accountability. The national identification numbers will be used in the confirmation of payment of wages, pensions and gratuity,” he said.
Macro-Economic Performance For FY 2022/23 To Date
Ggoobi revelaed that the annual headline inflation during the month of March 2023 declined to 9.0% from the 9.2% registered in the previous month of February.
“This was largely driven by a slowdown of price increases in the annual Core inflation basket particularly for goods like sugar, refined cooking oil, laundry bar soap, among others during the month,” he said.
While economic activity has continued on a recovery path from the shocks experienced over the past two years, the PS noted that the Composite Index of Economic Activity marginally declined by 0.1% from 152.5% in January to 152.3% in February 2023.
“This was due to weaker growth particularly in the industry sector on account of lower output from manufacturing and mining & quarrying subsectors during the month.”
During March 2023, the Ugandan Shilling traded at a period average of Shs 3,744.52/USD compared to a period average of Shs 3,685.72/USD in February 2023. This represents a depreciation of 1.6% largely on account of global strengthening of the US Dollar against major currencies and increased corporate demand for the dollar particularly to pay dividends to foreign investors
The stock of outstanding private sector credit in February 2023 was Shs 20,103.6 billion, a 0.2% decline from Shs 20,138.9 billion in January 2023 partly driven by the tight monetary policy stance and increased lending rates. During the month, the shilling denominated credit accounted for 69.4% (Shs 13,955.72 billion), while foreign currency denominated credit was 30.6% (Shs 6,147.85 billion) of the total stock.
Uganda traded at surplus with all EAC partner states save for Tanzania during the month. Kenya remained Uganda’s biggest trading partner accounting for USD 71.88 million worth of exports and USD 70.09 million worth of imports during the month. Other notable surpluses included South Sudan (USD 47.13 million) and the DRC at USD 56.08 million. Exports to Tanzania.
