PARLIAMENT - The Parliament yesterday unanimously endorsed the request by the Ministry of Finance and Economic planning to amend the 2009/10 Fiscal year Budget by Rwf60.9bn. 

The Minister of Finance, John Rwangombwa, had tabled a proposal telling the house that the additional funds will be covered by the increased budget support grants from donors.

The budget had initially been tagged at Rwf838bn. However, the new proposal raises the 2009/2010 government expenditure to Rwf898.9bn.

Speaking to The New Times last evening, the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Budget, Constance Mukayuhi Rwaka, said that her committee made no changes on the government proposals.

"We looked into the proposed increment and found that all reasons tabled by the government were sound and made no changes,” Mukayuhi said.

Previously, the Minister of Finance had said that there are some priority areas that had received insufficient funding in the 2009/10 budget, especially the Nine-Year Basic Education (9YBE) program and the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), which needed to get additional funding.

He added that another reason for the revision was to normalize some expenditure that had not been budgeted for 2009/10, but were implemented due to their critical importance.

He cited costs incurred on the construction of the Kigali Convention Centre and the restructuring of the national carrier, Rwandair.

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