A cross section of Ugandan citizens, analysts and members of the business community, has expressed mixed reactions to the 2019/2020 budgets that were presented before Parliament yesterday. Uganda will spend shillings 40.4 Trillion in the next financial year.

The Executive Director Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) Gideon Badagawa has praised the government for recapitalizing Uganda Development Bank and also need to formalize the economy. He also adds that there is a need for institutional capacity building to formalize the economy among other things. Meanwhile, the businessmen, Paul Sine of PMTS Ltd and Harish Bhuptani, the chairman of Mama Care Foundation have lauded the government for prioritizing infrastructure and also commercializing agriculture in the national budget. Bhuptani is happy that the education, gender and health ministries have been tasked to devise measures to address malnutrition and stunting among children. However, Sine is concerned that the budget is not fully financed through local revenues and thereby high chances of increasing public debt, beyond the 50% to GDP threshold. The Aboke local Council V leader, Doreen Angela is concerned that the 2.8 trillion Shillings allocated to local governments will be hampered by delayed releases by the Ministry of Finance. Another citizen, who preferred anonymity, accused technocrats of impeding implementation of the national budget activities and that most of the monies allocated will be squandered.