Govt outlines focus areas in 2014/15 Budget Projections

The Government has projected the National Budget for Financial Year 2014/15 at Rwf1.7 trillion, a slight increase from this financial year’s Rwf1.6 trillion.

The Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Amb. Claver Gatete, announced the projections yesterday while presenting the Budget Framework for the next financial year to a joint session of Members of Parliament in Kigali.

The Budget Estimates, which the minister presented along with the medium-term Budget Frameworks for two other financial years after the current one, is in line with the country’s second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS2).

The government has proposed to spend 52 per cent (Rwf915 billion) of the entire next Budget on funding four thematic areas of the EDPRS2.

They have been identified under the plan as the main pillars for fast-tracking the country’s progress toward attaining middle-income status by the year 2020.

Among the four areas, government has proposed to spend 25 per cent (Rwf438.9 billion) of the total Budget on economic transformation, which seeks to sustain rapid economic growth by mainly investing in urbanisation and rural settlement, energy production, increasing exports, and developing the private sector.

If Parliament approves government’s plan, the rural development thematic area, whose main goal is to improve the quality of life and economic wellbeing of people living in rural areas, will be allocated Rwf252.8 billion–equivalent to 14 per cent of the total Budget resources.

The government proposes to allocate 10 per cent of the total resources (Rwf170.3 billion) to the productivity and youth employment thematic area, whose goal is to move Rwanda from agriculture-based economy to an industry and services-based economy and targets to create additional 200,000 off-farm jobs every year.

The fourth thematic area for EDPRS2 has been allocated Rwf53.1 billion, equivalent to 3 per cent of the total Budget resources.

Minister Gatete said the accountable governance area for the next financial year will focus on improving service delivery in both public and private sector and ensuring that services in different sectors are better decentralised.

The New Times

UM– USEKE.RW