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{
    "id": 1353352,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1353352/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 218,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Balambala, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Abdi Shurie",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13294,
        "legal_name": "Abdi Omar Shurie",
        "slug": "abdi-omar-shurie-2"
    },
    "content": "Hon. Speaker, it is important to note that the increase in the CFS expenditure indicates the increase of expenditures that are largely non-productive and decrease the fiscal space available to implement other critical Government activities. A reduction of CFS expenditure, primarily debt servicing expenditures, will be key in ensuring that budgetary outlays have an increased role in economic development. The increase in CFS expenditures is driven by increase in public debt servicing expenditures which constitutes Ksh1.87 trillion or 90 per cent of the expenditures under the CFS. This increase was a result of broad currency depreciation that increased the debt servicing bill. It is against this background that the Committee recommends that the National Treasury submits to this House, within 90 days, a report proposing measures to reduce public debt servicing expenditure by Ksh500 billion over a five-year period and open up fiscal space for increasing development expenditure by a similar amount. During the consultations with stakeholders, it was noted that there is need to stabilise the exchange rate and prevent or slow down further currency depreciation through increasing the amount of foreign direct investment, increasing economic output targeting export markets and increasing both donor and grant financing and the efficient utilisation of the same. The Committee, therefore, recommends that there is need for: 1. Enhancement of the five key priorities of the Bottom-Up Transformation Agenda (BETA) (Agriculture, Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Affordable Housing, Digital and Creative Economy and Health) by including: a) export driven manufacturing, b) mining sector and c) financial and insurance sector, in order to enhance their contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. 2. These sectors are critical in generation of foreign exchange earnings and ordinary revenues, required to meet public debt servicing expenditures. 3. Review and enhance policies designed to boost Kenya's tourism industry. 4. Propose new policy interventions that will increase diaspora remittances and the role of the diaspora in promoting economic growth. 5. Undertake economic reforms and establish domestic environment to attract foreign direct investment and international investors. Hon. Speaker, on salaries and allowances for holders of constitutional and independent offices, we continue to observe that there is a consistent overbudgeting of the salaries which are reduced during subsequent supplementary estimates. This is a matter that the Committee has raised in its Report. The Committee has, therefore, recommended that the Auditor-General undertakes a special audit of the salaries for State officers over the past five years and submit a report to this House. Similarly, the National Treasury will be required to submit a report to this House detailing actual expenditure over the past five years and to ascertain the actual status of that expenditure. Hon. Speaker, other recommendations made by the Committee include: 1. That, the National Treasury submits to the National Assembly regulations guiding the sustainable use of the overdraft facilities since the Committee noted that it was being operated as a long-term facility, leading to incurrence of high interest costs and lack of flexibility of the liquidity threshold. 2. That, within 90 days, the National Treasury and the Office of the Attorney- General submit to the House amendments to the Finance Act of 2012 and measures to prevent incurrence of commitment fees. The Committee noted that part of the cost of all the loans was commitment fees on undisbursed loans, which were increasing the debt service bill. With those remarks, I beg to move and ask Hon. Omboko Milemba to second. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}