Kenya to Unveil a Record Sh3.07 Trillion 2018/2019 Budget

Kenya is set to unveil an all-time high budget of Sh3.07 trillion for the 2018/19 financial year to be tabled before Parliament. In the 2017/2018 budget, Kenya spent Sh2.6 trillion.

The government will be forced to borrow an additional Sh562.74 billion to the new budget due to deficit in revenue collection. This will add to current state debt of over Sh4 trillion, which has raised concerns from both locally and international financial experts and institutions such as International Monetary Fund (IMF). 

Under the 2018/18 budget estimates, Sh870 billion will go to debt-related payments (interest and redemption payments) alone, while President Kenyatta's Big Four Agenda of affordable housing, manufacturing, food security and universal healthcare will get Sh1.25 billion.

The Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC) will receive Sh 75 million for the acquisition of new headquarters and operating expenses.

An additional Sh30 million has be allocated to the state department of Interior for police housing program, while Sh200 million has been set aside for the Office of the deputy inspector general Kenya Police Service’s policing services program.

Sh100 million has been allocated for criminal investigation services while an extra Sh8.7 billion will be used for the repair of the infrastructure destroyed by recent flooding. Sh1 billion has been allocated to the Office of the Auditor General for personnel emoluments, outsourcing of audits and other consultancies bringing its total allocation to Sh6 billion.

 State department for Energy has received Sh68 billion budget, with Sh13 billion going towards power generation and Sh53 billion towards power transmission. State department for Irrigation will get Sh17.97 billion while Sh5.56 billion will go to the state department for Agriculture and Research.

Industrialization has been allocated Sh6.91 billion while the National Intelligence Service (NIS) gets SH31 billion.

Others are Sh24 billion towards ICT infrastructure, Sh2 billion to youth training and development, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Sh2.91 billion), Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (Sh2.92 billion) and Sh 32 billion to the department for housing, urban, development and public works.

The full budget breakdown will be presented before Parliament on June 14th by National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich.