Location: EY House 18 Clement Hill Road Shimoni Office Village Kampala Uganda Postal Address: P.O. Box 7215 Kampala - Uganda  EY:Insurance industry to grow by 8.2% - report Uganda’s insurance industry is expected to grow by 8.2 per cent according to a report by financial services firm Ernst and Young (EY).This is mainly due to a favourable investment climate that has encouraged several foreign players to join the market mainly through mergers and acquisitions.A number of foreign insurance companies entered Uganda mainly through mergers and acquisitions. Liberty Insurance, a South African-based company, bought 51 shares from East African Underwriters; Old Mutual and UAP merged while Prudential bought Goldstar Life Insurance.“Ugandan respondents were somewhat more likely to point to overall economic growth as a driver of insurance growth, and were far more likely to cite shareholder demands as a top challenge. Read more ▪  E&Y: URA records biggest revenue shortfall in decade Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) closed with a Shs500 billion shortfall, the biggest revenue deficit in over a decade. According to the tax body data, URA was expected to collect Shs8.5trilion but it collected just slightly more than Shs8trillion. The revenue collected was able to finance nearly 72 percent of the country’s national budget.According to tax analysts, the cumulative shortfall of Shs500billion was mainly as a result of the economy’s inability to generate sufficient economic activities that the tax body could have drawn revenues from.Speaking In an interview, the Ernst & Young Tax Partner/Country Leader, Mr Muhammed Ssempijja, said the revenue collections suffered from what he described as structural problem. He explained: “The economic environment is not attracting and retaining enough investment. This means that the tax base is not expanding because there are fewer players.” Read more ▪  Report on recoverable oil costs coming out, says government The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) has said a second audit process of recoverable oil expenditures is ongoing and a report will be tabled soon in Parliament for discussion.The audit in works covers among others, oil fields-Blocks 1 and 3 A (operated by Tullow) for the years 2009, 2010 and 2011.It is being conducted by both the OAG and two private audit consultancy firms, PriceWaterHouse Coopers and Ernst & Young.The director of audit-Central Government 2, Mr Joseph Hirya, revealed last week that the process is intended to recover monies claimed in activities by the International Oil Companies and to probe their operations.“This is a value-for-money audit,” Mr Hirya, said at a workshop organised by Makerere University, Global Rights Alert and Pay What You Publish-Norway. Read more ▪  Better investment climate key to improved revenues, experts say Following the recent revenue shortfall of nearly Shs250 billion, Uganda Revenue Authority will have to quickly capture more people into the taxpaying bracket even as it seeks to close loopholes that could see the deficit further widen, tax and economic analysts have advised.In the medium term though, the experts say there is a great need to improve the overall investment climate if the country is to improve its revenue earnings.The Tax Partner and Country Leader of Ernst & Young, Mr Muhammed Ssempijja, predicts hard times for the tax collectors although they are also of the view that it is not too late for the tax body to redeem itself from the looming revenue shortfalls. Read more ▪ |
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