This archive report was first published on 11 June 2020.
Kenya's 2020/21 Budget Unveiled Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic ¶
On June 11, 2020, Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani presented Kenya's 2020/21 budget in Parliament, aiming to balance a bigger budget against shrinking revenues amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
CS Yatani's first Budget has come under the spotlight on how he will balance the bigger budget against shrinking revenues as businesses shut down, workers lose jobs or face pay cuts and exports decline on supply chain interruptions.
Some of the key highlights of the budget include:
- Sh360 billion in loan restructuring, including Sh190 billion of personal loans, since March 2020.
- Sub-Saharan Africa economies to contract by 1.6 per cent in 2020 and rebound in 2021 by 4.1 per cent.
- Sh5 billion set aside for rehabilitation of access roads and bridges across the country.
- Sh10 billion set aside for the Kazi kwa Vijana programme.
- Sh300 million set aside to recruit 1,000 ICT interns to support digital learning in schools.
- Sh1.2 billion set aside for the recruitment of health workers for a period of one year.
- Sh500 million to go to the supply of beds and beddings to hospitals.
- Sh3 billion set aside to subsidise farm inputs and Sh1.5 billion for flower and horticulture farmers to access international markets.
- Sh1.3 billion set aside for clearing pending bills in Yatani's Sh2.7 trillion budget.
- CS Yatani orders Principal Secretaries and accounting officers to clear all pending bills.
- Government has directed prompt payment for contracts of enterprises owned by women and people living with disability.
- CS Yatani has constituted a team in Treasury to review the situation being faced by state-owned enterprises and revert within 90 days.
- Temporary lifting of the ban on holding meetings in private hotels to support the tourism sector.
- Fiscal deficit to decline in 2020/21 Financial Year to Sh840.6 billion from Sh842.7 billion in the previous Financial Year.
- Public debt is sustainable, and government will opt for concessional borrowing.
- Public projects to be funded through Public Private partnerships.
