MARIA KIWANUKA REPORT ON LOANS GRANTS AND GUARANTEES FOR 2010/2011 TO PARLIAMENT

MARIA KIWANUKA REPORT ON LOANS GRANTS AND GUARANTEES FOR 2010/2011 TO PARLIAMENT
The Report is dated June 8, 2011
The report was presented by Minister of Finance, Miria Kiwanuka before the August House in accordance with the provisions of Section 1 of the Budget Act and presents information relating to the new external financing undertaken in (Financial Year) FY 2010.11 and the total indebtedness of Government as at 1st march, 2011.
In the FY 2010/11, new loans equivalent to USD 1.174bn have been approved by Parliament, new grants worth the equivalent of USD 0.217bn have been concluded while no new guarantee has been issued.
As at 1st March 2011, Government indebtedness stood at USD 4.29bn. The outstanding fiscal contingent liabilities on publically guaranteed debt is USD 155.4million.
A Comment
The question to ask is whether the loans borrowed will help better the situation of the people of Uganda. There is need to establish whether the borrowed funds are really improving the welfare of the people of Uganda or contributing to their impoverishment. People are impoverished as they are taxed highly to make the repayments, yet there may not be evidence that borrowed funds were actually channeled to benefit the people, as there are a number of cases reported on where funds have been diverted. 2ndly, it is incumbent on the NRM Government to get a difference between party funds and funds procured to help all the people of Uganda. It will be great if the NRM can meet this objective as there are instances cited where the beneficiaries to some of these monies are party supporters; which is a criminal act.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka