MINISTRY OF FINANCE 2025/2026: BUDGET: Government sets fiscal pace

DODOMA: THE National Assembly yesterday endorsed the 2025/2026 Ministry of Finance ambitious budget, highlighting how the ministry will implement five key national priorities, among them, a projected plan to seek and collect a total of 50.17tri/-.

Moving the budget estimates in the august House yesterday, Minister for Finance Dr Mwigulu Nchemba said that out of the projected amount, the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) is expected to collect tax and non tax revenue totalling 34.1tri/-.

Out of this amount, tax revenue is 32.31tri/- and remaining 1.79tri/- is non tax revenue.

“A sum of 1.07tri/- will be sourced from aid, 14.95tri/- from concessional and commercial loans from both domestic and external sources, and 53.54bn/- from ministry’s revenue collections,” he said.

According to Dr Nchemba, in the fiscal year 2025/26, eight departments of the Ministry of Finance are requesting approval for a total expenditure of 20.19tri/- for recurrent and development expenses.

The amount shows that the ministries budget has surged by over 3tri/- from 17.99tri/- that was approved by the House for the ending 2024/25 fiscal year.

Out of this amount, he noted, 19.43tri/- is allocated for recurrent expenditure, including 1.10tri/- for salaries, 18.33tri/- for other expenses and 757.79bn/- for development expenditure.

Apart from collecting 50.17tri/-, Dr Mwigulu outlined other key priorities including timely servicing of the government debt, which is expected to mature, totalling 14.22tri/-.

Others are to develop a unified system for issuing government payment invoices in order to improve efficiency in revenue collection, to improve, integrate and strengthen the security of electronic systems for managing public finances and assets and to develop a Public Asset.

According to the Finance minister, priorities of institutions under the ministry for the Financial Year 2025/26 include tax administration and tax appeals.

“In the fiscal year 2025/26, TRA expects to collect a total of 34.10tri/- in both tax and non-tax revenue, out of which, 32.31tri/- are expected from tax revenue and 1.79tri/- from non-tax revenue,’’ he noted.

Moreover, Dr Nchemba said the authority will continue to improve the government revenue management electronic systems, including TANCIS and IDRAS and continue providing tax education to the public to promote voluntary compliance and reduce revenue loss due to fraudulent transaction information and smuggling activities.

Regarding training, research and professional advisory, the minister said that in 2025/26, five educational institutions under the Ministry of Finance expect to enrol a total of 97,957 students.

Of these, the Institute of Finance Management (IFM) expects to enrol 18,400 students, the Tanzania Institute of Accountancy (TIA) 33,581 students, the Arusha Institute of Accountancy (AIA) 27,420 students, the Institute of Rural Development Planning (IRDP) 15,556 students and the Eastern Africa Statistical Training Centre 3,000 students.

“In addition, the institutions plan to advance the professional qualifications of 339 staff members at the master’s and doctoral levels, conduct 58 research projects and provide 31 consultancy services,’’ he said.

In strengthening oversight on procurement, Dr Nchemba told the House that the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) plans to develop two new modules in the NeST system, the procurement auctions module and the product and service catalog module.

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Also, PPRA will in the next Fiscal Year conduct compliance and value-for money audits in 570 institutions and build capacity for 2,000 stakeholders from local government authorities on the use of the NeST system and the Public Procurement Act.

On the implementation of the 2025/26 general budget, the minister said TRA had planned to collect a total of 29.42tri/- in tax and non-tax revenues. He said by April 2025, the authority had collected 24.45tri/- in tax, which is equivalent to 101.5 per cent of the target of 24.09tri/-, representing a growth of 14.8 per cent.

He added that by April, 2025, TRA has also completed the development of an electronic system and commenced its use in the collection of insurance levy fees (TIRA Billing System) by receiving and analysing reinsurance contracts from 38 companies.

The construction of the authority’s building in Dodoma has reached 89 per cent and that inspections for 135 insurance stakeholders has been conducted, including 39 insurance companies and branches, 1 reinsurance company, 1 digital service provider, 1 reinsurance consultant, 8 bancassurance agents, 6 insurance brokers and 65 agents.