Ministry of finance, planning and economic development Permanent Secretary Keith Muhakanizi has revealed  that the Ministry has secured the 35 billion shillings required by the Ministry of health to procure the masks.

He said the only challenge is the capacity to make the masks in the required time frame .

Mr.Muhakanizi added that Government will be able to pay salaries,wages and pensions for all its workers and already the money has been released for this quarter which ends in June 2020.

He noted that although people are focusing on only #Covid19 , Uganda is facing a triple effect of locusts,heavy rains (floods) and corona virus which have all affected the economy. The economy is now expected to grow at about 3.8% from 6% depending on what happens on the next two months.

He said revenue collection has gone down and Government is borrowing fom IMF and World Bank ( not commercial terms) but highly concessional loans which will not create liquidity challenges in the next 10 years.These loans will be repaid over 40 years with no interest.

Some of this money is going to Uganda Development Bank so that business people can borrow at low interest rates.More money will go to SACCO’s so that small and medium enterprises (SME’s) can access cheaper credit.