The Senate has expressed concerns over some missing items in the 2010/11 fiscal year budget, indicating that some of the agreed upon national priorities were not considered in drafting the budget.

The budget’s total expenditures amount of Rwf984billion, was presented to a joint parliamentary session of Senators and MPs early this month.

A statement released after a Monday senatorial session indicates that the budget did not consider national priorities as set by the 2010 Kivu Retreat by senior government officials.

"The Senate has realised that the 2010/11 budget did not considerably base on the resolutions of the 2010 Kivu Retreat,” reads part of the statement, stating that less funds were committed to the development of SMEs, which they agreed, may derail efforts of reducing the import-export gap. 

The same statement indicates that vision 2020 highlights a plan of creating and increasing non-agricultural jobs but the 2010/11 budget does not indicate the kind of jobs to be created and the budget allocated for this.

Meanwhile, the Senate passed a bill scrapping the Rwanda Electricity Corporation and Rwanda Water and Sanitation Corporation (RECO/RWASCO), replacing them with the Energy, Water and Sanitation Authority (EWSA).

RECO/RWASCO was created from the former ELECTROGAZ, the water and electricity utility.

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