Government of Uganda spent a total of Shs3.378.46 trillion in November 2023 against a programmed expenditure of Shs 3.197.40 trillion, the latest report shows.
According to the Performance of the Economy Report for November 2023, the higher than programmed spending (by 5.7%) was registered under both recurrent and capital expenditure categories.
“Expenditure on the recurrent items of the budget was 6.1% higher than initially planned for the month. This followed a supplementary budget that was approved in Q2 for both wage and nonwage recurrent expenditure, implying an upward revision in the initial plans. Development spending was also higher than planned by 14.8% owing to a substantial increment in funds released in Q2 to compensate for the low release in Q1 for this category,” the report states.
Uganda government fiscal operations in November 2023 resulted in a deficit of Shs1.159.78 trillion which was higher than the Shs789.73 billion that had been anticipated, a new report shows.
According to the report, the higher deficit was due to a combination of lower than targeted domestic revenues and higher than programmed government expenditure for the month.
Domestic revenue collections amounted to Shs2.131.41 trillion in November 2023. This was lower than the Shs2.251.41 trillion target for the month mainly on account of shortfalls in tax revenue which more than offset the surplus in non-tax revenue.
Tax revenue collections were Shs1.938.48 trillion, against a target of UShs 2.065.93 trillion, resulting in a shortfall of Shs 127.45 billion.
According to the report, most of this shortfall was recorded under taxes on international trade transactions, while indirect domestic taxes also contributed to a smaller extent. A total of Shs797.92 billion was collected from international trade transactions. This was against a target of Shs910.59 billion, implying a shortfall of Shs112.67 billion.
“This was mainly attributed to lower than projected imports on which VAT and excise duty are levied,” the report states.
Indirect domestic tax collections totaled Shs 476.45 billion against a target of Shs531.09 billion as both Value Added Tax (VAT) and excise duty were below their respective targets for the month by Shs30.29 billion and Shs24.35 billion.
On the other hand, direct domestic taxes continued to perform well, registering a surplus of Shs41.91 billion (6.7% above target of Shs621.62 billion) in November 2023. Particularly, withholding tax on treasury instruments and rental income registered a surplus against their target.
