Written By David Walakira
Every year, Uganda embarks on a planning and budgeting process that is guided by the Public Financial Management (PFM) Act and the Local Government (LG) Act, typically between August and May in any given Financial Year (FY). If effectively done, this ensures that allocation for the taxpayers' money is towards the most efficient and need addressing interventions. The process is started with the review of the macro economy and modelling of the revenue generating potential of the coming FY. This facilitates the provision of indicative planning figures to spending agencies including Local Governments (LGs). The determination of the indicative resource envelope happens concurrently with consultation processes at the Lower Local Government (LLG). The idea is that by the time the Central Government organises to consult LG officially through the Local Government Budget Consultation (LGBC), the LGs have put together their performance challenges and priorities to discuss with the Central Government (CG). Read full article
|
In Economic exclusion has long been a serious problem in South Africa as the country has struggled with inequalities of different sorts and high unemployment. CoVID-19 has worsened these problems by causing a significant loss of jobs and (small scale) businesses. Although the South African government has put in place measures to minimize the negative impact of the pandemic, more needs to be done to address the issues not only in the short term, but also in the post-COVID era. 
These high pump prices come at a time when the economy is still partially open with travel guidelines on public transport still holding at half capacity. Cyclically, public transport fares also often increase during the Christmas holidays. Now we have three factors that will make travel in this season hard. First, the seasonal increase in fares, the half capacity guidelines for public transport due to COVID-19 restrictions and the high fuel prices. The most directly related industry is the transport, tour and travel industry. It should be noted that Uganda's tourism industry is slowly recovering from the COVID-19 lock-down. The increase in fuel prices may therefore offset the minimal gains that the tourism industry is making. 
