National Treasury misses revenue target by Sh67b despite Ruto’s efforts
3 min read
Treasury misses revenue target by Sh67b despite Ruto's admistration efforts to collect more taxes
Treasury misses revenue target by Sh67b despite Ruto’s admistration efforts to collect more taxes.
Both the national and county governments were facing severe financial shortages after the National Treasury announced a Sh67 billion deficit brought on by low revenue collection.
In a meeting with senators, National Treasury Principal Secretary Dr. Chris Kiptoo highlighted that the government presently owes State agencies Sh204 billion, while the counties are asking for Sh92.5 billion as their fair share for the months of January, February, and March.
In his appearance before the Senate Public Investments Committee, which is presided over by Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi, Kiptoo was categorical in his assertion that a lack of tax collection is to blame for the exchequer’s delayed disbursements.
“The position is that there is delay in exchequer releases because of the revenue performance of our target of about Sh67 billion as of Wednesday.
We are not sitting pretty, we are working round the clock to see if there is a possibility that come April and May we will be in a better position,” said Kiptoo.
The Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDASs) are awaiting payment of recurrent expenditures amounting to Sh96.5 billion, development funds amounting to Sh55 billion and pensions totaling Sh53 billion.
“We do not occasion delay deliberately. It is just that the cash position cannot allow us to settle quickly. We will have informal forum with governors and senators to see how to improve on all these,” he said.
The National Treasury CS noted that due to the country’s financial condition, they have put in place procedures to improve tax compliance and raise more money from donors to obtain additional cash in order to turn the situation around.
The government anticipates receiving funding from the World Bank through its operation of development policy and from a program with the International Monetary Fund through its facility for resilience and sustainability.
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Operations in a number of counties have been paralysed following delays in disbursement of equitable share to county governments for the current financial year.
According to Kiptoo, the government has prioritized to offset the current debt owed to different domestic and foreign institutions, dispelling claims by the Council of Governors (CoG) that the exchequer had prioritized the financial demands of the national government at the expense of the counties.
“From July to now, ministries have not received development budget, so it is not like the government has favored ministries against the counties. That is not the position,” the Treasury PS explained.
Although he remained non-committal on when counties will receive their allocation, the Treasury PS was positive that the country’s financial inflow will improve in a few months.
“This is a month we expect to get more revenue and when we get revenue, I assure you we will pay on time. If our situation improves we want to have a situation that if it delays its only for one month,” Kiptoo said.
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