KAMPALA – The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finace, Planning and Economic Development Keith Muhakanizi has said that the Country is now in a better position to forecast and plan better compared to 2 months ago when the coronavirus pandemic was difficult to predict and understand its trends.
Muhakanizi made the remarks on Saturday while appearing at Capital Gang talk show on Capital FM.
The PS said more than 2 million people are likely to fall back into poverty.
He said Ministry of Finance has steared clear impulsive decision making and opted for analysis and research before making decisions.
“Unlike other countries, Uganda is facing the tripple effects of Covid-19, floods and locusts which has made the economy vulnerable,” he said.
“Government revenue has been affected. 650bn shillings of what we expected to get is already lost,” he added.
He, however, assured the Country that the comprehensive plan to revive the economy will be revealed by President Yoweri Museveni in his State of the Nation address on June 4, 2020 and also in the Minister of Finance budget speech on 11th June 2020.
“Government focus will be on ensuring that domestic arrears are paid in addition to repairing roads/ bridges, schools and health centres affected by floods especially in Kasese district,” he said.
Muhakanizi also said Uganda Development Bank (UDB) will be recapitalized for small and medium enterprises to access cheap credit, adding that more funds will be made available through the Microfinance support centre to support informal sector through SACCO’s.
“Import substitution is high on the agenda and manufacturing will be supported to ensure that the import bill is reduced,” he said.
Muhakanizi said the budget for next financial year will be adjusted to take care of the current demands.
Commenting on the changes in Management at Uganda Revenue Authority, Muhakanizi said they were sanctioned by the URA Board.
“The challenge at URA is not even the changes in management by revenue collection which now stands at 13.6% of GDP.They should be collecting 15%-16% of GDP,” said PS.
