Incoming finance minister Musasizi lists priorities

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Rubanda East MP Henry Musasizi, who has been designated as the new finance minister, has vowed to work collaboratively with stakeholders to drive Uganda’s development ambitions.

He made the remarks on Monday (June 1) as he outlined his priorities after being vetted by the Appointments Committee of Parliament following his recent nomination by President Yoweri Museveni to serve as finance minister.

Musasizi, who has been serving as state minister for finance in charge of General Duties, said on X, formerly Twitter, that he shared with the committee the progress made by the ministry and outlined Uganda’s current robust economic baseline.

He said he also committed himself to the roadmap for Uganda’s economic growth agenda.

“Going forward, my focus is to transition Uganda from incremental growth to exponential takeoff through five pillars,” he said.

He said he will relentlessly execute the Tenfold Growth Strategy to transform Uganda into a half-trillion-dollar ($500 billion) economy by 2040 while enforcing absolute discipline by shifting the ministry’s culture from spending money to delivering results.

“I will demand strict budget discipline, aggressive procurement reforms, and rigorous value-for-money audits on all public projects,” he said.

He also vowed to implement the second Domestic Revenue Mobilisation Strategy to raise Uganda’s revenue-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio to at least 20 per cent, reducing external dependence.

In mid-January last year, Musasizi said Uganda’s tax-to-GDP ratio had stagnated between 10 and 14 per cent due to a narrow tax base, poor taxpayer compliance, a limited number of tax collectors and revenue leakages through corruption.

On Monday, he also promised to prioritise funding and monitoring the commercialisation of smallholder farmers to ensure every Ugandan participates in the money economy, while managing the country’s impending oil revenues through what he described as bulletproof institutional safeguards.

“We will use oil to build infrastructure and muscle, ensuring Uganda becomes an oil producer, but never an oil-dependent economy.”

Over the last five years, Musasizi noted that the ministry had delivered key budgets and reforms, secured Uganda’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force Grey List, strengthened fiscal institutions and formulated the Tenfold Growth Strategy.

“Today, Uganda’s economy is strong and accelerating: 7% growth this year, rising to 10.2% with first oil; GDP at $68.4 billion; inflation at 3.3%, [and] debt sustainable at 52.7% of GDP,” he said.

He also highlighted foreign direct investment, which he said had risen by 151 percent to $3.66 billion, exports, which had doubled to $16.25 billion, and projections by the Uganda Revenue Authority to finance 80 percent of the discretionary budget, among other achievements.

“I am deeply honoured by the trust reposed in me by the President, and I assure him and the people of Uganda of my unwavering commitment to steering our nation’s economic agenda towards sustainable growth, prosperity, and improved livelihoods. I look forward to working collaboratively with stakeholders to drive Uganda's development ambitions.”