By East African Gazette
Kenyan President William Ruto has cut down presidential expenditures and removed deputy ministers’ posts .
This has also affected the expenditures on the first family to overcome the State House budget.
Ruto announced this on Friday where he proposed budget cuts and additional borrowing to save about $2.7 billion budget caused by his withdrawal of planned tax hikes in the face of nationwide protests.
Ruto scrapped the finance bill containing the tax increases in response to mass, youth-led demonstrations that have created the biggest crisis of his two-year term in office.
“I believe these changes will set out our country on a trajectory towards economic transformation,” Ruto said.
He said the reversal of the finance bill will affect the target on the local revenues.
In the new measures state corporations will be merged 47, government advisers have been reduced by 50%, the suspension of non-essential
travel by public office bearers and the removal of budget lines for the president and deputy president’s spouses, he said.
President Ruto regretted the situation of what people are going through following the demonstration regarding the finance bill.
He also announced a forensic audit of the country’s debt, which sits at more than 70% of gross domestic product, and said he would announce
changes to the government soon.
Last week over 39 people were killed in clashes with the police and demonstrators entered parliament and left items destroyed including
fleeing with a mace.
Ruto asked parliament to reduce 177 billion shillings ($1.39 billion) for the fiscal year that began this month and that the government would increase borrowing by about 169 billion shillings.
This year’s budget is under the Theme: “Sustaining Bottom – Up Economic Transformation Agenda, Fiscal Consolidation and Investing in
Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation for Improved Livelihoods”
The president has been caught between the demands of lenders such as the International Monetary Fund to cut deficits, and a hard-pressed
population reeling from rising living costs.
According to the experts the withdrawal of the fiancé bill is likely to affect targets of IMF activities, although the government does not have debts coming due for which it urgently needs cash.
Kenya’s budget deficit is now projected at 4.6% of gross domestic product in the 2024/25 financial year, up from an earlier estimate of 3.3%, Ruto said.
According to the Budget Statement, the ambition is to reduce the deficit from 5.7% of GDP in FY 2023/24 to 3.3% in FY 2024/25
The fiscal plan aims to reduce the gap between actual and target fiscal deficits. It focuses on stabilizing the Debt to GDP ratio, controlling
the growth of public debt, and enhancing fiscal and debt sustainability.
Out of this, recurrent expenditure is projected at KES 2.84 trillion, development expenditure is projected at KES 707.4 billion, while total
allocation to counties is projected at KES 444.5 billion, of which the equitable share of county revenue is KES 400.1 billion.
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