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"id": 977381,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/977381/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. (Eng.) Mahamud",
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"legal_name": "Mohammed Maalim Mahamud",
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"content": "The National Treasury further proposes that additional Kshs89.8 billion from that financial year will be directed towards Consolidated Fund Services (CFS), specifically on non-discretionary expenditures, that is, pension and debt repayment-principal and interest, which take first charge on the public budget. So, ideally, the increase in the revenues by about Kshs90 billion will be directed to the CFS and there will be no increase in expenditure to any level of Government according to the National Treasury. Madam Temporary Speaker, according to the National Treasury and the BPS Report, Kenya experienced slow economic growth in 2019. The economy grew by 5.6 per cent, which was below the Government's target of 6.2 per cent. Madam Temporary Speaker, the BPS also touches on issues like inflation rate. There was an uptick on food inflation in the last quarter of 2019, with the price of some foodstuffs such as maize and beans increasing. However, the impact of increasing food prices was dampened by the relatively low fuel inflation. Consequently, the overall inflation rate in December 2019 was 5.8 per cent, which was similar to the inflation rate in December, 2018. Madam Temporary Speaker, on interest rates and credit, interest rates remained stable over the period of January 2018 to September 2019, with the weighted average lending rate by commercial banks decreasing to 12.5 per cent over the first three quarters of 2019. Madam Temporary Speaker, on exchange rate and external sector, Kenya’s exports have experienced a steady decline over the past decade. As a share of GDP, exports have declined from 14 per cent in 2011 to 7 per cent in 2018. This was driven by relatively slower growth in the value of all the principal domestic exports. As a country, we are not focusing on exports and a lot of dependency is on remittance only. Kenya is not benefiting from any exports of commodities. Madam Temporary Speaker, in county revenues, the National Treasury proposes that out of the projected shareable revenue of Kshs1,856,700,000,000, Kshs1,533,670,000,000 will be allocated as the equitable share to National Government, while an allocation of Kshs369,870,000,000 to the county governments for Financial Year 2020/2021. The county government allocation comprises Kshs316,500,000,000 as county equitable share and Kshs13,073,000,000 as Government of Kenya conditional grants, Kshs9.43 billion from the road maintenance levy and Kshs30.2 billion from loans and grants. It is important to note that the National Treasury proposes no growth on county equitable share this financial year. Madam Temporary Speaker, on county Own-Source Revenue (OSR), counties are supposed to unlock their revenue potential. They should review their OSR streams in order to increase their tax base by venturing into other untapped revenue sources that can supplement their revenue collection potentials. They require to increase revenue collection to finance any planned growth in their expenditures from own-source revenue. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}