The government is planning to suspend purchase of furniture for a period of one year, cut down on foreign travels and restrict all trainings to within government institutions in an expenditure control drive.
- In the 2024/25 Financial Year Budget whose implementation starts next month, National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u also revealed that part of the expenditure control measures will include the suspension of all new recruitment for the next one year.
- Auditing and cleansing of all public payrolls, pension and transfers to the vulnerable will also be done, with a view to eliminate ghost workers as well as enforce payment of salary scales as approved or recommended by the Salaries and Remuneration Commision.
- Other areas targeted in reducing expenditure include reviewing insurance schemes (Edu Afya, Indigents, Public Service, Police and Prisons, Commissions and Independent Offices) under the Universal Health Coverage and align them to the Social Health Insurance Fund.
The government will also review regional development authorities (RDAs) to remove duplication of roles with those of County Governments and Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), and suspend the policy of Semi-Autonomous Government Agencies (SAGAs) investing surplus funds and enforce the requirements of public finance management (PFM) Act, 2012 and the PFM Regulations, 2015 to surrender such funds to the exchequer.
“With the reforms we project total revenue collection, including appropriation in-aid for the FY 2024/25 budget to be KSh 3,343.2 billion, equivalent to 18.5 per cent of GDP.
“Of this, ordinary revenue is projected at KSh 2,917.2 billion, equivalent to 16.2 per cent of GDP. Ministerial Appropriation-in-Aid is projected at KSh 426.0 billion. Grants to this budget are projected at KSh 51.8 billion or 0.3 per cent of GDP.”
“The government’s total expenditure in the Financial Year 2024/25 budget is projected at KSh 3,992.0 billion or 22.1 per cent of GDP. Of this, recurrent expenditures will amount to KSh 2,840.0 billion or 15.7 per cent of GDP. Development expenditures, including allocations to domestic and foreign financed projects, Contingency Fund and Equalization Fund is KSh 707.4 billion equivalent to 3.9 per cent of GDP. Total allocation to County Governments is projected at KSh 444.5 billion of which equitable share is KSh 400.1 billion.”
Since the beginning of the current financial year, the Government says it has also implemented initiatives to contain growth of expenditures.
It has undertaken measures to reduce spending on non-priority expenditures and its Public Private Partnerships framework targets commercially viable projects but also consider the contingent liabilities that come under this framework. It is also reviewing the portfolio of externally funded projects with a view to restructuring and re-aligning them with bottom economic transformation agenda (BETA).
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