National Budget to be Read on 30th March, What should we expect?

The National Treasury has announced that the national budget for the Fiscal year 2017/2018 will be read in Parliament on the 30th March 2017 and not on 23rd as it been earlier speculated.

“This is to notify the general public that the budget statement for the Fiscal year 2017/18 Budget will be delivered by Cabinet Secretary, National Treasury, to the National Assembly, on Thursday, the 30th March, 2017 at 3:00 pm,” read part of the statement from the National Treasury.

This Fiscal year’s budget is said to be worth 2.29 trillion shillings. According to the National Treasury, the budget is set to be financed by 1.9 trillion shillings from revenue collections, (not forgetting that the Kenya Revenue Authority has missed its target of revenue collections on several occasions). The National Treasury also says that 51.5 billion shillings will come from the grants to finance the 2017/2018 budget. This leaves the budget in deficit of 530.9 billion shillings which will have to be borrowed both locally and from the international market.

READ: Cabinet Approves Ksh 2.62 Trillion Budget Plan for 2017/2018

President Uhuru Kenyatta, during his State of the Nation address last week, said that the governments spend more than 50 percent of its revenue to paying salaries to 700,000 civil servants. According to the Head of State, 627 billion shillings are spent in paying of salaries and said that the Salaries and Remuneration Commission was in the process of reviewing salaries to public servants downwards.

The President said that politicians who will be elected come August this year will have to earn less than the current politicians. Those in Parliament gave the Head of State a standing ovation but knowing how selfish our politicians are, President’s suggestions might prove to be very difficult given that they are the same people with the powers to pass the bill about salaries.

Will this budget also be driven on the wheels of debt like that of 2016/2017?

READ: Declining Economic Growth Driven By Chain of Debts

Will the government borrow massively from the international market the way it did during the 2016/2017 Fiscal year?

The government insists that it is still within the borrowing zone and that its debt is manageable despite warnings from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Traditionally, the national budget is usually read during the month of June but this year’s budget cones early due to the coming general elections that are set to be held on 8th of August this year.

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