Uganda’s government exceeded its expenditure by 684.13 billion shillings ($183 million) in October 2022, The Monitor newspaper reported, citing the Ministry of Finance.  

This led to an overall fiscal deficit of 2.3 trillion shillings, which was higher than the planned deficit of 1.702 trillion shillings due to revenue shortfalls and higher than planned expenditure during the month. 

The Ministry of Finance said expenditure and net lending in October hit 4.3 trillion shillings, up by 15.4% from the 3.7 trillion shillings planned for the month.  

The minister said that expenditure on domestically financed development projects was 9.1% higher than the initial plan for the month, as more funds were released for the second quarter. 

The spending was done to sustain economic recovery without undermining the objective of controlling rising inflation, it added. 

The government also cleared domestic arrears of up to 123.46 billion shillings in October to support private sector recovery, according to the ministry. 

(editing by Cleofe Maceda; Cleofe.maceda@lseg.com)