Civil servants to receive KSh17.7bn pay rise in the next budget
3 min read
Civil servants set to receive a KSh17.7bn pay rise in the next budget as of July after budget allocation by National Treasury
Civil servants set to receive a KSh17.7bn pay rise in the next budget as of July after budget allocation by National Treasury.
In a move that will exacerbate Kenya’s wage bill crisis, the Treasury budgeted Sh17.7 billion in the budget for a salary increase for civil servants in the new fiscal year, which begins on July 1.
Chris Kiptoo, the principal secretary of the Treasury, informed lawmakers that the funds had been allocated in the 2023–24 estimates as a result of recommendations from a Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) job appraisal.
“We have allocated Sh17.7 billion for salary increment for civil servants following a job evaluation exercise by the SRC,” Dr. Kiptoo told MPs.
“I and the Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u met the SRC last week over the job evaluation recommendations. We are in consultation and once we agree and the decision is officially communicated, we will release the money to various ministries, departments, and agencies of government.”
Dr. Kiptoo said the Sh17.7 billion allocation is an indication of the cost of the salary review report that the SRC has presented to the Treasury.
He appeared before the National Assembly’s Committee on Finance and National Planning to explain the ministry’s budget for the financial year 2023/24.
Dr. Kiptoo did not provide the timeline within which the Treasury and the SRC were likely to announce the new salary structures.
An estimated 954,900 civil servants are pushing for salary reviews to compensate for the tough economic times that pushed the country’s inflation to 9.2 percent in the months of February to April.
“Kenya’s nominal wage bill has been increasing every year. The expenditure on wage bill (Personnel Emoluments – PE) as a proportion of the total expenditure in most counties, has remained above the Public Finance Management (PFM) Regulations, 2015, the recommended ratio of 30 percent over the recent years,” said the SRC in its Wage Bill bulletin.
In the SRC in March announced that it approved pay rise requests worth Sh2.18 billion in the six months to December amid a government push to contain the public wage bill.
The SRC said it received 50 requests from public service institutions on remuneration and benefits estimated to cost Sh2.29 billion but advised the national and county governments to approve requests worth Sh2.18 billion.
Bonus requests topped the list at Sh1.47 billion followed by allowances review and benefits at Sh647.5 million and Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) at Sh325 million.
Canada promises to support Ruto’s Hustler Fund project
National Treasury in race to collect Sh1.3trn in two months
TSC announces plan to employ 35,000 more teachers by September
The Treasury has been struggling to tame the bloated public wage bill that now consumes more than half of the total revenue, impeding spending on development projects.
A harsh economy has impacted key sectors, meaning that the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has struggled to net sufficient collections.
Dr. Kiptoo, on Tuesday, told the committee chaired by Molo MP Kimani Kuria that the Treasury has recorded a revenue shortfall of Sh87.4 billion.
He said the Treasury had targeted to raise Sh1.7 trillion this financial year but only Sh1.68 trillion had been collected, leaving a shortfall of Sh87.4 billion.
The PS said the below-target revenue collection is on account of ordinary revenue which did not perform as targeted.
The fiscal deficit for the current financial year has been revised downwards from 6.2 percent of the GDP to 5.7 percent, reflecting a slight dip in expected debt accumulation.
In the financial year starting July 1, Dr. Kiptoo told MPs that the country has a financing deficit of Sh663.5 billion.
Also read,
TSC proposes hiring of 20,000 interns in the 2023/2024 financial year
Kenya’s grand plan to expand SGR to Kisumu, Malaba, and Isiolo at a cost of KSh2.1 trillion
Teachers on contract to wait till 2025 to be hired on permanent terms- TSC
UoN only Kenyan university listed among the top 2,000 in the latest world ranking
Follow us
