CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF IMPLEMENTING THE FY 2016/17 BUDGET AND ACHIEVING QUALITY SERVICE DELIVERY By Mr. Kenneth Mugambe Director Budget Ministry of Finance, Planning & Economic Development At The Civil Society Post Budget Dialogue Organised by CSBAG 16 th June 2016 UMA Conference Hall
Presentation Outline Highlights of the Budget Strategy 2016/17 Key Challenges Opportunities Measures for Improving Public Service Delivery Conclusion
The FY 2016/17 Budget Strategy The Second National Development Plan (NDP2) Government Manifesto 2014 Population and Housing Census Other Emerging Challenges
The FY 2016/17 Budget Strategy Theme: Enhanced Productivity for Job Creation through: Maintaining and sustaining Macroeconomic Stability, National Security and Defense as fundamentals for economic development Wealth Creation through support to Agricultural Production and Productivity: Infrastructure Development and Maintenance; Improving the quality and access to key Social Services; Economic Empowerment through support to special groups; Enhancing Domestic Revenue Mobilization; and Improving Government effectiveness in Public Service Delivery to Facilitate Private Sector Investment.
Macroeconomic Strategy Achieve at least 6% GDP growth per annum maintaining low single digit inflation; Maintain a stable and competitive exchange rate a responsive fiscal policy to support private sector development; financial sector development to increase entrepreneurs access to affordable long term finance; adequate foreign exchange reserve cover equivalent of 4.5 months of imports of goods and services; and maintaining prudent debt levels
Employment and Job Creation Increasing employment and jobs will be achieved by creating opportunities for self-employment, skills development and promotion of Value addition. Specifically, Government will: 1. Continue affirmative action with the Youth Livelihood Programme. To date, the Programme has developed skills of 83,000 youth and provided financial support to implement almost 6,500 projects worth Shs. 45.5 billion. 2. Economically empower women by rolling out the Uganda Women Enterprise Programme (UWEP). 3. Increase value addition through Micro, Small, and Medium sized enterprises
Productivity Enhancement Programme This will be through enhancement Production and Productivity of key growth Sectors Agriculture Provision of improved breeding and planting materials, and pesticides; Agricultural research and development; Construction of irrigation infrastructure. Financing post-harvest handling facilities for commodity storage through the Agricultural Credit Facility. Establishing an Agriculture Insurance Scheme
Tourism Development Participating in international tourism fairs and expos, and implementing the single East AfricaTourist visa; Upgrading heritage sites; promoting cultural theme events, and developing regional tourists circuits across the country Skilling tour operators, hoteliers and tourism industry workers to deliver world class hospitality services; Grading of hotels and restaurants and increasing inspection of tourism enterprises Developing strategic tourism infrastructure.
Development and Maintenance of Transport Infrastructure Completion of ongoing road projects Maintenance of completed national road network, district and rural feeder roads; Development of strategic bridges across the country Fast tracking development of the Standard Gauge Railway Expansion of Entebbe International Airport and improving facilities at regional aerodromes Improving existing marine infrastructure
Electricity Fast track the construction of big HEP stations such as Karuma and Isimba Construction of transmission lines across the country to promote rural electrification and agro processing; Construction of sub-stations for industrial parks
Oil, Gas and Mineral Development Fast track the development of the oil refinery Development of the Oil Pipeline Institutional strengthening including operationalizing the National Petroleum Authority and establishment of the National Oil Company Skills Development Implementation of the Sukulu Phosphate and Steel Project Continued exploration of other valuable minerals such as Uranium, cobalt, nickel, chromium, Iron ore and gold.
Information Communication Technology Improve access to high speed broadband services Extend the National Backbone Infrastructure (NBI) to cover West Nile and Karamoja and neighbouring countries; Fast track the development of ICT Parks in Namanve and Entebbe
Human Resources and Skills Development Education and Skills Development Operationalising new Public Universities with emphasis on critical skills. Expanding the Student Loan Scheme Enhancement of salaries for Primary School teachers and Public Universities Continue to support Universal Primary and Post Primary education
Human Resources and Skills Development Health Equipping of recently rehabilitated hospitals Continued provision of essential medicines Complete the ongoing rehabilitation and expansion of several hospitals and staff houses Development of centres of excellence in order to increase local access to specialized medical treatment Implementation of the National Prevention Strategy of HIV/AIDS and also expand Anti-RetroviralTreatment Present the National Health Insurance Bill 2016
Water, Sanitation and Environment Continue expansion of piped water schemes and Expansion of urban sanitation facilities, Improve rural water access facilities: boreholes, protected wells and gravity flow Support provision of Household sewerage and sanitation Protect river banks, restore the degraded section of River protection zones, and demarcation of wetland boundaries Strengthen coordination of climate change activities
Domestic Revenue Mobilisation Expanding the tax base by formalising the informal sector Improving efficiency in tax collection and compliance Implement various tax measures to facilitate investment including emerging industries in petroleum, mining and construction. Increase focus on collection of non-tax revenue; Improving tax administration through one-stop boarder posts Implementation of the tax payer registration expansion project.
Key Opportunities Stable macroeconomic outlook: Projected recovery in global, regional and domestic economy low inflation Increasing international demand for Strengthened legal framework including the PFMA 2015 if enforced will improve overall public expenditure management
Key Opportunities Political commitment to implement the Government Manifesto 2016 Improving infrastructure (Transport, Energy and ICT) will reduce the cost of production and facilitate faster growth in productive and service sectors as well as improving service delivery. Budget Transparency and Accountability initiatives will reduce corruption. Enhanced stakeholder collaboration especially with CSO will improve service delivery.
Key Challenges Potential Macroeconomic instability especially high trade deficit and foreign exchange volatility arising out of lower export earnings compared to imports High Commercial Bank interest rates likely to reduce access to investment capital Limited local revenue base due to the large informal sector Weak private sector for industrial development Corruption remains a challenge
Key Challenges Weak public investment management for project identification, formulation, implementation and evaluation. Challenges in Coordination, Monitoring and Supervision of Government programmes at various levels. Technological challenges such as increasing cases of cyber crimes
Measures for Effective Implementation of the Budget Aggressively enforce the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act 2015. Increase budget transparency and accountability to fight corruption Collaboration with all stakeholders Publication of Releases Strengthen feedback mechanism for transparency initiatives through the Budget Information website andtoll Free Call Centre Medial Briefings Enforcing Performance Contracts in assessment and re-appointment of Accounting Officers; and removal of accounting officers who fail to account for public funds
Measures for Effective Implementation of the Budget Strengthen overall Public Investment Management with emphasis on key sectors. Increase inspection and supervision of frontline service delivery especially schools and health centres to address the problem of staff absenteeism. Increase Budget Monitoring and Accountability Promotion of e-government to improve overall service delivery Deepen of fiscal decentralization to enhance local government discretion in decision making.
Measures for Effective Implementation of the Budget Support private sector growth through access to capital, capacity building and promotion of local content. Enhanced political and technical inspection Clearance of domestic arrears within the first half of the FY 2016/17 Fast track the implementation of the Budget through a Strategic Result Matrix
Conclusion Effective implementation of the FY 2016/17 budget will largely hinge on tackling the key challenges and constraints in implementation of Government programmes and stakeholder commitment as well as collaboration in monitoring and supervision of Government programmes. Government appreciates the pivotal role of the Civil Society fraternity in supporting public service delivery. Government will aggressively enforce the measures for improving service delivery as elaborated in the Budget Strategy. Thanks