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{
    "id": 833210,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/833210/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 199,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Eldama Ravine, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Moses Lessonet",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 67,
        "legal_name": "Moses Lessonet",
        "slug": "moses-lessonet"
    },
    "content": "You will also note that it is the policy of Government and other multilateral agencies which we deal with, that our borrowing or the fiscal deficit should not exceed 5.6 per cent. When we passed the Budget in June, the fiscal deficit was huge, close to 7 per cent. This was not going to auger well for this nation. To justify the reason we are cutting expenditure by Kshs55 billion, we are to maintain the fiscal deficit at 5.7 per cent. Even with the deficit, in real terms, you will realise that Government is going to borrow to finance this particular expenditure this year, which amounts to a whooping Kshs569 billion. In fact, when we met as Budget and Appropriations Committee, it was a proposal by Treasury that they wanted to maintain the deficit at Kshs569 billion. But for us to come down to Kshs562 billion, it required us to reduce monies to NG-CDF, county governments and independent organs like the Judiciary. It is for that reason that we agreed, together with the Treasury, that we can maintain the deficit at Kshs569 billion so that we can give adequate resources to the institutions I have just mentioned. As we process and as we lobby Members to pass this Appropriation Bill, we would also want to make everyone understand the current situation. The county governments will be losing amounts from Kshs9 billion and we want them to understand that the Kshs55 billion reduction has affected all the departments of the Government, all independent commission and all the other arms of the Government. So, we will be requesting that even as we make a revision of the Division of Revenue Bill that our friends and colleagues in the Senate will agree with us, that we need to also reduce that amount to county government by Kshs9 billion. You will also note that we invited everybody to come before the Budget and Appropriations Committee. We even held a sitting yesterday hoping that the CoG, whom we had written to, would show but he did not. The CoG did not get time to come before us to defend their position. The absence of the CoG basically means that they agree with our position."
}