Recurrent expenditure and government operations, debts (internal and external) and county governments are the major winners in 2018/19 budgetary estimates.
In the 2019/20 financial year, whose budget will be read Thursday by CS Henry Rotich, the government will spend a total of Sh1.7 trillion to run its programmes, pay salaries and generally make sure all operations continue.
The money will be allocated to every government department, Judiciary and Parliament with almost Sh1 trillion going to Consolidated Fund kitty, reports the Nation.
Counties will receive Sh371.6 billion, while the CFS has an allocation of Sh805.8 billion, the bulk of which will pay debts.
Parliament will receive Sh43.6 billion, the Judiciary will get Sh18.9 billion, while Sh5.8 billion will go to the equalisation fund.This year, the budget deficit will stand at Sh607.8 billion.
Rotich has given KRA a target of Sh2.2 trillion, which the taxpayers are expected to service. The rest will be filled by external and internal debts.
Treasury hopes to plug this by borrowing Sh324.3 billion from the external markets and Sh289.2 billion will come from the domestic markets.
Currently, Kenya's debt stands at Sh6 trillion, the highest ever since independence. When President Uhuru Kenyatta took over from Mwai Kibaki, the debt stood at Sh1 trillion.
“There is a high rate of accumulation of new debt and the debt service to revenue ratio threshold has been breached implying that any shocks in revenue collection could affect the country’s ability to repay the debt,” says the IEA report: Trends in Kenya’s Public Debt.
Despite the over borrowing especially from China, Rotich said last month that Kenya's economy is on a steady growth.
“…there is a need to redistribute this wealth and jobs by investing in health and education,” said Rotich while unveiling the Economic Survey 2019, which is a compilation tracking the economic performance over the last year.