Finance requests for additional Rwf60bn

KIGALI - The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has requested parliament to approve an increment of Rwf60.9bn The budget had initially been tagged at Rwf838bn. However, with the new proposed additional of Rwf 60.9bn, it will rise to Rwf 898.9bn. Appearing before parliament on Thursday, the Minister of Finance, John Rwangombwa, 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. Rwangombwa revealed that the increment will be covered by the increased budget support grants from donors. 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 Rwandair. He added that revisions are meant to accommodate additional budget support grants from the World Bank, Netherlands, the UK Department for International Development (DfID) and the European Commission. Rwangombwa, said that the total budget support grants have been revised upwards by about Rwf 52.4bn. “The increase in operational grants came mainly from the World Bank, Rwf 19.9 bn, Rwf 10.1 bn from the European Commission, Rwf 8.2 bn from DfID for Education budget support and Rwf 7.5 bn from Netherlands Energy budget support” said Rwangombwa. Detailing the new budget expenditures, Rwangombwa told the parliament that the total tax revenue is projected to increase by about Rwf1.3 bn. In terms of re-allocation of resources as a result of Rwf60.9 billion increment, Rwangombwa said that division of theMinistry of Natural Resources (MINIRENA) into the Ministry of Forests and Mining (MINIFOM) and the Ministry of Environment and Land (MINELA) will also be put into account.“Consequently, there was no budget for these Ministries and this split required undertaking reallocations accordingly,” he said. Ends

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Finance requests for additional Rwf60bn