by katamu eddy nedinani
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) working towards enhancing prudent and transparent debt acquisition and management in Uganda have expressed concern over rising levels of Uganda’s public debt.
This is as a result of excessive borrowing,bureaucracy that delays the payment for goods and services and failure to utilize borrowed funds.
Uganda’s public debt has risen to 73.8 trillion shillings there by raising concern among civil society organization.
The Minister of Finance explained to parliament that government takes long to dispense borrowed funds because many projects are badly written
How ever Civil society organization comprised SEATINI Uganda,Uganda Debt Network and transparency international are appealing to government to start plan for projects before borrowing funds.
Peninah Mbabazi from SEATINI explains that this will save government from paying high interest rates on un utilized loans.
They Note that Debt is eating a huge pie of the country’s revenue and that the adverse effect of this level of borrowing is felt through interest payments of over UGX 5.5Trn in FY2022/23 rising from UGX 2.4Trillion in FY2017/18.
This is coupled with external debt repayments that are projected at UGX 2.4Trillion in FY2022/23 rising from UGX 589 Bn in FY2017/18.
This takes a first call on the revenue collection and as such reduces funds available for service delivery.
