The Government of Rwanda plans to raise spending by Rwf106.4 billion in revised budget to cater for school feeding for all students, teachers’ salaries and fertiliser increase for higher coffee yields.

Uzziel Ndagijimana, the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning made the disclosure while presenting the proposed budget revision bill to Parliament on Wednesday, February 8.

Under the bill, the Government proposed that the national budget increase by Rwf106.4 billion to Rwf4,764.8 billion, which is a 2.3 per cent rise from Rwf4,658.4 billion original budget that was approved by Parliament in June, 2022.

READ ALSO: REVISED BUDGET: Govt spending increases by Rwf106bn

He indicated the increase will mainly go into the social sector, chiefly education and agriculture.

"The additional spending will among others support key recurrent expenditures, such as increase of the number of teachers and their salaries, supporting universal school feeding programs, and additional fertilisers to boost coffee production," he said.

After the Parliament approved the relevance of the budget revision bill on Wednesday, it is subject to analysis by its Committee on National Budget and Patrimony.

The New Times understands that the lawmakers will consider factors including whether the funds allocation were based on key priority areas, and addressing the financing gaps they identified during a previous budget assessment.

Commenting why the increase seems relatively small, Ndagijimana said that it is just an adjustment based on the budget execution in the last six months, which was informed by the assessment of resources and where there was a need for more funds allocation.

Again, he said that the increment catered for the full implementation of the decision the Government took during the execution of the current budget under review, to increase the salaries of teachers in line with ensuring the quality of education.

In August 2022, the Government announced a move to increase the salary of primary school teachers by 88 per cent and that of secondary school teachers by 40 percent effective the same month, which it said was intended to improve teachers’ welfare, retain them and contribute to quality education.

READ ALSO: Pay rise for teachers will boost retention –Ngirente

"We are implementing two reforms in the education sector; one is the general increase of teachers’ salaries. So, part of this increase will ensure that we fully implement that decision,” Ndagijimana said.

"Two, we have a school feeding programme which now has been rolled out across the country, from pre-primary to secondary. So, part of this increase is also filling the gap to implement that programme,” he observed.

According to the 2020-2021 education statistical yearbook published by the Ministry of Education in February 2022, there were almost 3.5 million students in public and Government-subsidised schools from nursery, primary, and secondary levels.

Reaping from high coffee prices

Referring to the implication of the coffee fertiliser financing increase, Minister Ndagijimana said that it means coffee growers are being supported, and can expect exports and revenues to increase.

"We have also allocated more resources for fertilisers especially in the coffee sector to boost production, and take the advantage of good prices of coffee at the international market,” he indicated, pointing out that coffee prices increased by 40.4 per cent in the January-November, 2022 period, compared to the same period in 2021.

On export earnings, the Minister explained that Rwanda’s coffee exports generated over $45 million (aboutRwf49 billion) in the six-moth period from July 2022 to January 2023, which means the revenues exceeded the projected $39 million by over 15 per cent.

MP Christine Muhongayire said that considering the problems currently affecting the world, the proposed national budget increase, as well as the economic growth that the country is registering are commendable.

"I recommend the fact that there are funds allocated to education in order to improve it and cater for its quality. Also, agriculture, as a strong pillar for development, was allocated funding in areas such as fertilisers,” she said.

But, she suggested that more efforts should be put into building agricultural resilience to climate change, such as drought that leads to reduced farm productivity, by developing irrigation schemes.