Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1459572,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1459572/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 194,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kiharu, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Ndindi Nyoro",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The reason we are having this debate today is because it is unprecedented. We have never had a Supplementary Budget being prepared before the main one is actually implemented. This is the first time we are having Supplementary Estimates being considered barely a month after the passage of the main Budget in the budget-making process in Kenya. This is premised on the fact that we were preparing a Budget. The Budget had both the revenue and the expenditure sides. I am lucky to be handling the expenditure side; the revenue side being handled by the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning led by my brother, Hon. Kimani Kuria. The anticipation of BAC was to have the entire revenue-raising measures realised. Unfortunately, or fortunately, Kenyans requested that we look at other means in so far as the management of public finances is concerned. Out of that, we had a hole in the Budget. All the revenue-raising measures, as were anticipated by the Finance Bill 2024, were left as void. We have done two things to fill the void. One is in terms of expanding our deficit by borrowing slightly more. In that regard, we are requesting that we borrow an extra Ksh170 billion over and above what we had budgeted for in the main Budget in this Supplementary Appropriation Bill. Consequently, our deficit for this Financial Year is more than Ksh750 billion. To allay any fears, whereas our deficit has moved from 3.83 per cent of deficit to GDP ratio, the current one we are considering of 4.3 per cent deficit to GDP ratio is still within our range as a country. Before, we wanted to move out of the hole much faster because borrowing and enlarging the deficit is not a very prudent manner of managing our economy. The other area that we had to explore is the expenditure side. Consequently, over and above borrowing an extra Ksh170 billion, we have also cut expenditure to the tune of over Ksh145 billion of what we had anticipated to spend. However, it is important for this House to know that some of the things that we have been doing in this House have borne fruits. So, even as we consider the proposal before us, we must know that it is not haphazard. We have been seeing the output in our economy. I say so because we were in the same process last year. What were the results? Our economy, in 2023, grew by 5.6 per cent. Inflation in the country has now been tamed completely to the recent figures of 4.6 per cent. The Kenyan currency also seems to respond to the policies that we have been making in this House, especially in so far as the Budget is concerned. That is why our currency, against the green-buck, has been gaining close to 20 per cent this year alone, and much more in comparison to the regional currencies. Hon. Speaker, what were the other areas of consideration when we were making this Supplementary Budget? It is out of semantics that we are calling it Supplementary Budget I, but 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."
}