MPs on the finance committee have approved the Shs6.4 billion budget for the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) for the Financial Year 2022/2023.
Led by the Minister of State Finance (Planning), Hon Amos Lugoloobi, the CMA leadership appeared before the committee on Wednesday, 19 January 2022 to present the authority’s budget priorities for the Financial Year 2022/2023.
The authority cited a budget shortfall of Shs963 million, arising from underfunded priorities including; investor and issuer outreach programmes which require an additional Shs583 million.
The authority further requested additional funding of Shs220 million for nationwide media campaigns and Shs160 million for stakeholder engagements.
We need to reduce external borrowing which has become more commercial to save this country
Committee vice-chairperson, Hon Jane Pacuto, called on her counterparts to support the authority’s plea to ensure that government covers the underfunded priorities, especially public education programmes.
She argued that public education as a mandate of the authority is key to its success.
“CMA is not a simple subject and we need to be educated and when we are educated and aware, then we shall appreciate and make their work easy. This committee should avail funds for them to do much more than they are doing now,” said Pacuto.
She also encouraged the authority to attract listings from more companies, saying that this will ensure the availability of more resources for both the private and public sectors.
“We need to reduce on external borrowing which has become more commercial to save this country,” Pacuto said.
Hon Paul Omara (Indep. Otuke County) said that the CMA’s performance in the last financial year is remarkable and it justifies the budget request, but advised the authority to focus on mobilising corporate bonds to enable the private sector to access equity funding.
“Government is borrowing a lot of money from commercial banks at very high rates. You should mobilise some of these funds so that we can rely on domestic savings,” Omara said.
