Rwanda’s contributions to EAC be realigned in December

As a fully incorporated member of the East African Community (EAC), Rwanda is set to switch from a quarterly to an annual contribution system to the Bloc’s budget. This was revealed Friday by the Permanent Secretary in the EAC Ministry, Robert Ssali. “We have been submitting our contribution to the EAC budget at a quarterly basis but with effect from this year we will be paying once, within the financial year which begins on July 1 and ends June 30. We will therefore pay by December,” Ssali told The Sunday Times. According to the Permanent Secretary, four member states contribute USD 5.6 million (Rwf3.2 billion) annually to the bloc’s budget while Burundi contributes USD 1m to the budget. “The EAC ministry has already drawn the budget for 2009/2010. The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has approved it. It has now been presented to the parliament where it will soon be finalised for transfers to be made.” According to Ssali, these resources are vital to meet various needs of the secretariat such as payment of salaries, implementation and coordination of the bloc’s programmes like the common market protocol and maintaining facilities such as the headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. The original partner states of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda were contributing to the budget under this system. Rwanda and Burundi will only start implementing it this year since they had been given a grace period of two financial years to adapt to the EAC system. The EAC is an intergovernmental organization comprising the five East African Countries. The East African Community (EAC) has increased its annual budget by 34 percent for the 2009/2010 fiscal year with a total budgeted amount of 54.25 million U.S. dollars. More than half the amount (50.6%) is meant for development expenditure while the rest is meant for recurrent and emolument expenditures. The secretariat also unveiled that 51.5 percent of the budget would be contributed by the five EAC member states of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda while the rest would be contributed by development partners. The 2009/2010 budget will focus on such issues as consolidating the community’s customs union, finalizing the negotiations of the community’s envisaged common market protocol and promoting intra-community trade and investment. Ends