Patrick Ocailap, the deputy secretary to the Treasury, has issued the first Budget Call Circular (1st BCC) to all accounting officers and chief executive officers (CEO) of state-owned enterprises and public corporations regarding the creation of budget framework papers and preliminary budget estimates for FY 2024/25 on September 19, 2023.
The ultimate goal of the Budget Strategy for FY 2024/25 is to accelerate economic growth to at least 7%. The preliminary resource envelope for FY 2024/25 is UGX 52.723 trillion.
Ocaolap has requested that the CEO and accounting officers align their priorities with the budget strategy for FY 2024/25.
“As you prepare your BFPs for FY 2024/25, you should align your priorities with the Budget Strategy FY 2024/25, and adhere to the guidelines stipulated in this Circular,” said Ocailap.
The policy and administrative guidelines for FY 2024/25 include the following:
- Accounting Officers must ensure that they allocate resources to Vote’s critical activities and items disposed to virements and supplementary requests.
- Accounting officers should adhere to the government’s policy of tax-inclusive planning and budgeting.
- The Ministry of Finance is awaiting the final report on the special payroll audit from the office of the auditor general, upon which wage allocations and ceilings for FY 2024/25 will be based, in addition to other parameters. Votes will continue to recruit staff on a replacement basis.
- The government is finalising plans for the construction of a government campus at Bwebajja to accommodate all government institutions that are currently renting. The Development Committee will no longer consider any new project proposals for the construction of office buildings.
- Local governments’ indicative planning figures (IPFs) for FY 2024/25 for all programmes as generated by the Online Transfer Information Management System (OTIMS) are now ready and should be used in the preparation of LG budget framework papers for FY 2024/25.
- No administrative units will be created in FY 2024/25 as earlier advised.
The first Budget Call Circular is issued in line with Sections 9(1), 2, 3, and 5 of the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act 2015 (Amended).
This mandates the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development to prepare a budget framework paper that is consistent with the National Development Plan and Charter for fiscal responsibility.