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Kenyan Budget Driven on Debt #BudgetonDebt

BY Juma · June 8, 2016 10:06 am

The National Treasury is planning to release the National Budget today. The budget will be worth 2.27 trillion shillings. But before the budget is released by the Cabinet Secretary for Treasury Henry Rotich, questions have already been raised concerning how the highly ambitious budget is going to be realized.

As the budget is read today, the Kenya Revenue Authority which has missed its target for revenue collections by more than three counts will be tasked to collect a total of 1.5 trillion shillings. The question now is whether KRA will manage to raise the designated amount. The taxman missed his latest tax collection target by more than 47 billion shillings. Early last year, President Uhuru Kenyatta had ordered a lifestyle audit of all KRA officials after it emerged that there was deeply rooted corruption within the institution.

Read: Employees of the Kenya Revenue Authority to undergo Lifestyle Audit

The government also plans to borrow 775 billion shillings to help sustain the budget. Kenyans have taken to the social media with concerns over the growing debt of Kenya. The International Monetary Fund, IMF has already raised a red flag over Kenya’s borrowing spree. The country is already ahead of her borrowing schedule with every Kenyan now owing the world bank at least 75,000 shillings. Kenya’s borrowing index is now at 52 being above the IMF set point of 50.

Read: National Treasury to Present 2.3 Trillion FY 2016/17 Budget

Most Kenyans are blaming corruption that is deeply rooted in the country as the main reason why funds often go down the drain. Kenya loses more than 500 billion shillings annually as a result of corruption. Just a day ago, it was revealed that money lost due to the National Youth Service saga was more than one billion shillings as one of the suspects, Josephine Kabura is said to have received a total of 1.3 billion shillings.

Kenyans are set to pay heavily through increased taxes as the government seeks to sustain the 2016/2017 national budget. Most Kenyans, according to a study by Ipsos Synovate, are opposed to the plan by the government to tax them more.

About Juma

Juma is an enthusiastic journalist who believes that journalism has power to change the world either negatively or positively depending on how one uses it. (020) 528 0222 or Email: info@sokodirectory.com