By KT Reporter
The National Budget for the financial year 2025/2026 is due to be read on June 12, 2025, according to the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development. According to the proposals, the total resource envelope for the year is 71.9 Trillion Shillings, with just over half of it (36 trillion) coming from local revenues, a task given to Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).
Notably, the budget will kick off the road to a 500-billion-dollar economy by 2040 from the current estimate of 53 billion. During the Launch of the national budget month, Finance Minister Matia Kasaija said the Government had continued to undertake deliberate reforms to strengthen good governance and inclusivity in the national budget processes.
The ministry says it is working to ensure reduced borrowing and accumulation of domestic arrears, which, Minister Kasaija says, are affecting economic progress. He thus says that the solution to the above is increased domestic revenue mobilisation, which should provide adequate resources to cater for the delivery of the budget without relying on more borrowing.
Apart from getting feedback from the population, the Budget Month activities will be used to mobilise the masses to embrace tax payment by explaining the advantages as well as giving accountability on how the taxes are being applied. “We implore citizens to use this budget month opportunity to give feedback on the tax measures as well as the proposed tax measures for the financial year 2025/26,” Kasaija said, adding, “We expect improved appreciation of the tax measures and voluntary compliance of taxpayers”.
In the ministerial statement issued at the end of March this year, the ministry revealed it had given URA a collection target of 36.7 Trillion Shillings, which is significantly higher than the current 31.369 Trillion considering that there is a looming shortfall. Last week, URA Commissioner General John Musinguzi told Parliament that that had collected just over 27.3 trillion going into the final month of the year, with the task of collecting 4 trillion, compared to the monthly average of 2.66 Trillion Shillings.
Abel Kagumire, URA’s Commissioner for Executive Operations, admitted the tax body was finding it challenging to meet the targets set by the ministry, but vowed that the 2025/26 target would be met, owing to the measures being introduced. These include the introduction of a three-year exemption for new businesses, VAT reforms, an infrastructure levy, an import declaration fee, and an export levy on certain goods, as well as continued automation and mobilisation of the masses.
At the Budget Month launch, Kagumire noted the importance of public participation and interest in the tax and budget processes. “Citizens are not bystanders in the budget process. They are both contributors and beneficiaries,” he said, adding, “They fund the budget through their taxes, and they deserve to see the link between their contribution and the services they receive”.
According to URA, the major obstacles to revenue collections include the limited data sharing across government agencies, rising smuggling activities along Uganda’s borders, and a large informal sector that remains outside the tax net. Others are high staff turnover, which leads to the loss of experienced personnel; reluctance by taxpayers to adapt to new technologies, as well as the budget cuts to URA, which worsen the resource constraints there.
The Minister also launched the National Public Investment Management (NPIM) Policy, which is aimed at transforming how Uganda plans, implements, and monitors public investments. The NPIM Policy will ensure that every shilling invested delivers real value through job creation, improved services, and sustained economic growth, by ensuring the timeline and effective delivery of government projects.
“As we embark on the implementation of the Fourth National Development Plan (NDP IV), our ambition is to grow Uganda’s economy from USD 50 billion to USD 500 billion in the next 15 years. Achieving this will require better planning, efficient use of public resources, and timely delivery of high-impact projects,” said the Minister.
The Deputy Secretary to the Treasury, Patrick Ocailap, said the Government remained committed to the fiscal consolidation agenda by sustaining the drive for increasing revenue generation, limiting borrowing to only critical investments, and ensuring efficiency and effectiveness in the use of the limited public resources.
He said during the budget month the Ministry together with Partners would provide full disclosure of the budget; communicate the opportunities in the budget and how every Ugandan can benefit from them; account to the people of Uganda on the previous financial year budget commitments and also obtain feedback from the citizens to inform future budgets and policies-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
