The Chamber of Deputies on Thursday, June 23, 2022, approved the relevance of the national budget bill through which the Government proposes to spend Rwf4,658.4 billion in the next fiscal year - 2022/23. Speaker Donatille Mukabalisa said that the draft law for the national budget will be scrutinised by the responsible committee before it is voted by the Lower Chamber of Parliament. While presenting the relevance of the national budget bill, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Uzziel Ndagijimana said, proposed spending for the next fiscal year represents an increase of Rwf217.8 billion or 5 per cent compared to the over Rwf4.4 trillion revised budget for the current fiscal year which will end on June 30. Ndagijimana said the proposed national plan is in line with tackling the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war effects on the economy, explaining that it will focus on the implementation of the National Strategy for Transformation (NST) and measures to speed up the recovery of the economy. “The budget is expected to increase productivity in all sectors of the economy, improve people’s welfare, and increase job creation,” he said. Domestic resources will amount to Rwf2, 654.9 billion representing 57 per cent of the entire budget. It will also be funded by external grants, which will contribute Rwf906.9 billion (19.5 per cent), and external loans that will account for Rwf1,096.7 billion (23.5 per cent). Sector allocations As proposed, the Government will allocate Rwf2.7 trillion (58.5 per cent of the entire budget) to the Economic Transformation pillar. These resources, Minister Ndagijimana said, will scale-up agriculture productivity, create jobs, support private sector development and strengthen climate change mitigation. The Social Transformation pillar will be allocated Rwf1.2 trillion (26.3 per cent). This budget share will improve quality and access to health and education, eradicate extreme poverty through scaling up of social protection programs, and improve nutrition. Under the Transformational Governance pillar, the Government will spend Rwf707.1 billion (15.2 per cent). This allocation will focus on promotion of quality service delivery across public and private sectors, good governance and transformational leadership. The Minister said it is expected that the global economy will register a lower growth in the current year compared to that recorded last year. This situation, he said, is largely occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war impact on the global economy through factors such as disrupting the supply chains and increasing prices of commodities such as fuel, food items and fertilisers needed for increased crop production. Rwanda’s economy, he said, is expected to grow by 6 per cent in 2022, compared to 10.9 per cent in 2021, mainly because of the abovementioned factors. Financing gaps On June 10, the Chamber of Deputies identified 207 most urgent financing gaps that require Rwf348.2 billion to fix, equivalent to 7.5 per cent of the proposed budget for the next financial year. The gaps included inadequate funds to subsidise fertilisers for farmers amid the rising costs, financing for irrigation projects, road construction, and drug procurement among others. Ndagijimana told parliamentarians that their inputs were taken into account while preparing the budget bill, based on the country’s available resources. MP Omar Munyaneza, Chairperson of the Committee on National Budget and Patrimony told The New Times it is expected that the Minister will appear before the Committee members on Friday, June 24, to look at how the MPs’ inputs were considered in the budget bill.
