The Performance of the Economy Report for February shows that the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) collected taxes worth Shs1, 125.0b against a target of Shs1, 123.6b.
The more-than-targeted revenue was attributed to international trade which saw taxes collected rise above target by Shs42.7 billion (8.8 percent). “This overage in collections on international trade taxes more than offset shortfalls in domestic taxes,” says the report.
According to the report, indirect domestic taxes were short of their target for the month by Shs 41.2b as value added tax (VAT) especially on manufactured products, services and construction among other sub sectors came out low than expected.
On the other hand, direct domestic taxes for February also registered a shortage of Shs4.1b, most of which resulted from withholding tax and rental income tax items.
On a positive note, the report says, corporate tax and tax on bank interest registered surpluses, although these were more than offset by the shortages in the categories discussed above.
Meanwhile, non-tax revenues to government amounted to Shs35.9b against a target of Shs 25.5b. The report attributed the good performance to the improved efficiency in collections following the transfer of the responsibility to collect all nontax revenue on behalf of Government from MDAs to URA.
Govt spending
Total Government spending during February amounted to Shs1, 337.0b against Shs1, 413.7b, which translates to a performance of 94.6 percent or Shs76.7b.The report attributes the performance largely to development spending, which underperformed at only 61.7 percent against the projection for the month.
According g to the report, development spending totaled to Shs399.6b against a projection of Shs647.4b and was attributed to low execution of a number of projects.
Projection execution was affected by lengthy procurement process, which delayed the start of some road infrastructure projects; including Kigumba-Masindi-Hoima Road Project, Rwenkunye-Apac Road Project, and Muyembe–Nakapiripit Road Project.
