Uganda is to introduce a ten per cent tax on money transfers made via mobile phone.

The new charge was announced by the country’s Finance Minister Maria Kiwanuka (pictured) as part of its 2013/14 budget.

The tax will be imposed on mobile operators who, it is expected, will pass on the charges to their subscribers.

There are 8.9 million subscribers who use four mobile money services in Uganda –  MTN’s Mobile Money, Uganda Telecom’s M-Sente, Warid’s Airtel Money/Warid Pesa and Orange’s Orange Money – according to the Daily Monitor.

The government hopes to raise UGX32 billion ($12 million) annually through the new tax.

In addition, it is proposing another tax on incoming international phone calls which it hopes will raise $16.5 million annually, according to the BBC.

The charges are part of an attempt by the country’s government to fill a hole in its budget after its aid budget cut was cut by foreign donors over allegations of corruption.

There are signs of a trend with Uganda’s new mobile money tax, which follows the introduction of a similar charge in Kenya at the start of this year.

In February, dominant operator Safaricom passed on a ten per cent tax imposed by the Kenya government to its 16 million M-Pesa subscribers. The operator introduced the fee for transactions above $1.1. Transactions of a lower value avoided the charge.