In this year’s budget creation process, the National treasury has extended the deadline for the public and other interested parties to submit their proposals for the 2019/2020 budget. The deadline has been set on 31 January from the earlier deadline of 15 January.
Every year, the national treasury creates a draft budget policy statement and invites proposals from the public and other stakeholders. After the public and other interested parties have submitted their views, the budget policy statement is then presented to the Cabinet for approval before being tabled in parliament for further review.
In the 2019/2020 draft budget policy statement, the treasury projects Kenya’s economy will grow by 6.2 per cent in 2019 mainly driven by agricultural production and improved activity in the manufacturing sector. The treasury also expects the shilling to remain stable against the US dollar and Kenya’s inflation rate to stay within the desired range of 2.5 – 7.5 per cent.
Some of the economic risks highlighted in the budget policy statement include; the heightened trade dispute between major economies, uncertainty due to prolonged Brexit negotiations, political uncertainties in some parts of Africa and Middle East, recurrent expenditure pressures, adverse weather conditions, and failure to collect set revenue target.
Kenya government expects to spend Ksh2.7 trillion in total expenditure against total revenue collections of Ksh2.08 trillion in the fiscal year 2019/2020. The Ksh623.8 billion budget gap is expected to be plugged by Ksh51.6 billion in grants, Ksh306.5 billion foreign debt and Ksh271.4 billion domestic debt.
Recurrent expenditure continues to rise. In the 2019/2020 budget policy statement, recurrent expenditure is estimated to take up 61.3 per cent of the total expenditure. 24.8 per cent of the total expenditure will go to development projects.
In the fiscal year 2019/2020, the government plans to continue its partnership with the private sector in various development projects including; Lake Turkana wind Power, Thika power, Rabai power plant, and Malindi Solar Power project.
