Matia Kasaija, the Minister of Finance
The Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development has revealed that the total stock of Central Government domestic arrears rose from Shs4.813.83Trn in FY2020/21 to Shs7.987Trn in FY 2021/22.
The revelation is contained in the report on Public Debt, Grants, Guarantees and Other Liabilities for 2022/2023 published in March 2023, but was only made public in May 2023.
The Ministry of Finance says the increase in stock of domestic arrears is mainly in Central Government because of the increase in arrears for goods & services and securities.
Details from the Ministry of Finance cited; Judiciary, Electoral Commission, Inspectorate of Government, Parliamentary Commission, Law reform Commission as the entities with largest arrears under Securities and Court Awards & compensations while utilities and rent were the least contributors to the domestic arrears under the Central Government.
The breakdown of the verified domestic arrears of Central Government entities as at end June 2022 highlighted that arrears under securities and Court Awards & compensations were the major contributors to the high domestic arrears with Shs3.109Trn and Shs2.139Trn respectively in the central government, while Good and services that remained unpaid stood at Shs946Bn.
Of the total domestic arrears, Ministries account for Shs2.320Trn, Agencies Shs5.646Trn, Referral Hospitals Shs15.20Bn, Missions Shs5.32Bn.
However, the Ministry of Finance also revealed that the figure captured isn’t the overall number in the
domestic arrears, noting that some claims hadn’t been verified at the time this report was being prepared and therefore, they will be included in the next issue.
Despite the skyrocketing domestic arrears to a tune of Shs7.987Trn, Government has only is set aside Shs205.8Bn as payment of domestic arrears in 2023/2024 national budget.
