Kenya's public debt has risen to Sh3.566 trillion as a result of heavy borrowing by the National government in its bid to bridge its 2016/2017 budget deficit.
According to the latest data released by the National Treasury, domestic debt stock has risen to Sh1.854 trillion from the Sh1.388 trillion marked at the same time last year marking a 33.6 per cent increase. The external debt too has risen to Sh1.712 trillion.
The data also showed that the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) missed its first quarter target by Sh14.4 billion despite a good performance in July and August. KRA collected a total of Sh172.80 billion in the two months marking a Sh25.7 trillion increase as compared to Sh152.73 billion collected in the last Financial Year.
The government also received a total of Sh313.6 million in terms of appropriations in aid between July and September. This is however Sh14.4 million short of the government's Sh328.0 million target.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich said the situation was largely to be blamed on the fall of income tax.
“This represented an under performance of Sh14.4 billion mainly due to shortfalls in income tax including Pay As You Earn, A-I-A collection, value added tax and import duty,” he said.
This financial year,the treasury has set a target of Sh1.37 trillion for the tax-man, Sh160 million more than that collected in the fiscal year concluded in June. The Authority is expected to collect 1.33 trillion in tax revenues and the remaining 44.38 billion in non tax revenues.