Kenya’s foreign debts have been growing bigger, and Kenyans are the ones who have been burdened to pay. Did you know that very Kenyan forked out at least Sh1,228 monthly between July and September this year to service loans taken out by President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee administration?
A report by Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo reveals that the government paid out Sh147.4 billion for public debts in the first quarter of the 2018-19 financial year.
This means that each of the estimated 40 million Kenyans paid a cumulative Sh3,685 for the three months under review to settle Jubilee’s ballooning loans.
According to the national government’s budget implementation review report, the National Treasury has allocated Sh870.6 billion towards public debt in the current fiscal year alone.
Of the Sh870.6 billion public debt allocation, Sh400 billion will go towards interest payment, while Sh470.6 billion was budgeted for redemption.
Kenya’s public debt hit Sh5.05 trillion by September this year.
This means that if the loans were equally divided among 12.5 million households, each would have to pay Sh400,000.
In what signals Jubilee’s appetite for loans, the report reveals the government borrowed Sh92 billion locally and Sh3.1 billion from the international market within the three months.
The latest Controller of Budget report also shows that in the first three months of this financial year, the government collected Sh540 billion in revenue, representing 20.5 per cent of this year’s Sh2.6 trillion target.
This means that more than a quarter of the total revenue collected was spent to repay government loans.
Through enhanced tax collection measures instituted by the Kenya Revenue Authority, the Sh540 billion was an increase of 32.3 per cent compared to Sh408.1 billion realised in he same period in the last fiscal year.
According to the statistics, KRA collected Sh329.1 billion from income tax, while non-tax income tax stood at Sh3.2 billion.
While the government collected Sh540 billion in the first quarter, details show that actual expenditure stood at only Sh429.3 billion, representing 16 per cent of the gross annual estimates.
This means that Sh110 billion was lying idle at the Treasury by September.
The 47 county governments received Sh23.5 billion in the three months under review to finance operations, though Odhiambo said some delays are caused by the Treasury.
The expenditure included Sh7 billion on recurrent programmes by Ministries Departments and Agencies and a further Sh160.5 billion on the consolidated Fund.
However, in what appears to portend a gloomy future for most Kenyans who want more roads, water, schools and other infrastructural programmes, only Sh51.1 billion was spent on development, representing an absorption rate of 7.6 per cent.
Analysis of the recurrent expenditure shows that most government cash was spent on personnel emoluments at Sh88.6 billion, representing 40.7 per cent of total recurrent expenditure.
Domestic travel gobbled up Sh1.7 billion, while Sh1.1 billion was spent in rentals and rates on non-residential buildings.