President William Ruto has directed the National Treasury to make a Ksh300 billion cut to the national budget that was in place under his predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta.
While addressing the 13th parliament on Thursday September 29, 2022, Ruto said that the Treasury will coordinate efforts with several ministries to reduce wasteful spending. He added that the government had to borrow money from other financial organizations since the budget was excessive and unsustainable.
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“To this end, I have instructed the Treasury to work with ministries to find at least Ksh300 billion in this year’s national budget because the market cannot sustain the kind of borrowing we are doing as a government,” he said.
Uhuru Kenyatta’s last final budget, which was read by departing Treasury CS Ukur Yatani, stood at Ksh3.3 trillion. Ruto also noted that the majority of the money the government borrowed was used for recurrent expenses like the wage bill, saying that the approach would not help the economy grow.
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He stated that in order to assure Kenyans’ future, his administration would review the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) in order to review the saving culture.
The head of state also hinted at changing the Kenya Revenue Authority’s name to the Kenya Revenue Service as part of a cultural shift to make it more approachable to the public.
“We want to make it a people-friendly, customer-centric organization. I am of the view that we rename it The Kenya Revenue Service. In line with the proposed transformation,” Ruto said.
