2024/25 budget to enhance living standards — Speaker Among

Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, has said the 2024/25 financial year national budget will mainly focus on priority sectors that enhance the living standards of the people.

She made the remarks on Thursday on X, formerly Twitter, after attending a harmonization meeting in Kampala that was chaired by Vice President Jessica Alupo.

“The meeting was focused on discussing the budget estimates for the Financial Year 2024/2025. I commend the Executive, Judiciary, and public for their devoted involvement and valuable contributions to the ongoing budget process,” she said.

“The budget will mainly concentrate on priority sectors to enhance the living standards of the people of Uganda,” the Speaker, who is also the Bukedea Woman MP, added.

In March 2024, the Government presented a sh58.34 budget for the 2024/25 financial year, intended to focus on “full monetisation of the Ugandan economy through agriculture, industrialisation, expanding and broadening services, digital transformation and market access”.

The minister of state for finance in charge of general duties, Henry Musasizi, presented the budget and listed investments in wealth creation initiatives, investments in social sectors such as education, health and water, as well as manufacturing, as the other priority areas.

“The key priority areas include peace and security, road maintenance and construction of a few strategic roads and construction of the standard gauge railway, electricity transmission and utilisation of existing energy stock,” he said during the plenary sitting of the House on March 28.

The national budget is tabled before April in accordance with Section 13 of the Public Finance Management Act, 2015, which states that, “The Minister shall, on behalf of the President, present the proposed annual budget of a financial year to Parliament, by the 1st of April of the preceding financial year.”

Musasizi called for House support in processing and passing the Bill ahead of the new financial year.

“I wish to pledge on behalf of the Ministry of Finance that we shall be available to support this process through Parliament from the start to the end,” Musasizi added.

The new budget estimates indicate a rise by sh5.64 trillion compared to the 2023/2024 budget that amounted to sh52.7 trillion