NAIROBI, Kenya, June 20 – Treasury has written to the National Assembly Clerk on proposed budget rationalization if revenue-raising measures in the 2024 Finance Bill are not approved.
National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u warned that the government is at risk of losing Sh200 billion if the contentious bill fails to be approved by Members of the House during the ongoing debate.
“If the revenue raising measures contained in the Finance Bill 2024 are not approved by the National Assembly, there will be a likely revenue shortfall of approximately Sh.200 billion,” he warned.
The Treasury hinted that general expenditure cuts will affect the three arms of government, including Parliament, the judiciary, and the executive.
“In order to remain within the provision of Section 40 (5) (a) and Section 50 of PFMA, 2012 Cap. 412A, we propose the following measures including general expenditure cuts across the three arms of Government,” stated CS Ndung’u.
The Judiciary will suffer rationalization of the recurrent budget by Sh2 billion, while the executive office of the President’s Operations budget will be slashed by Sh451 million.
The State House Operations and Maintenance budget will also be cut by Sh500 million if the proposed Finance Bill is rejected by the lawmakers in Parliament.
Parliament’s recurrent budget will also be cut by Sh2.7 billion, while its development budget will be slashed by Sh450 million.
The Treasury, however, gave green light to the National Assembly to proceed with the consideration of the Appropriations Bill if it is passed.
Legislators drawn from both the Kenya Kwanza Alliance and Azimio La Umoja camp will be debating whether the bill aimed at financing the government’s Sh3.99 trillion budget should be approved or rejected.
The government is eyeing the bill’s survival bid before parliament to finance its Sh3.99 trillion budget for the financial year 2024–25.
