President William Ruto convened a Cabinet meeting ahead of this year’s Budget reading in Parliament amid widespread uproar over some of the proposals in the Finance Bill 2024.
According to a despatch from State House, the meeting chaired by President Ruto was convened as a precursor to the presentation of the Financial Year 24/25 budget.
The Cabinet listed several details of the budget including the policies that it aim at meeting and the differences between the first and second budget cycle.
“HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT has this morning chaired a meeting of Cabinet at State House, Nairobi. The meeting was convened as a precursor to the presentation of the Financial Year 2024/25 Budget in parliament later today by the Cabinet Secretary for The National Treasury & Economic Planning. THE BUDGET policy, which will be detailed later this afternoon, is designed to accelerate the implementation of policies, programs, projects, and interventions outlined in the Administration’s Blueprint the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA),” read part of the despatch.
The Cabinet highlighted that the presentation of the FY 2024/25 Budget represents the Kenya Kwanza Administration’s second budgeting cycle, adding that it seeks to build upon the substantial progress achieved so far in revitalizing of the economy.
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According to the Cabinet, this progress is evidenced by key economic indicators such as inflation, exchange rate, balance of payments, fiscal policy, and monetary policy which all point to sustained recovery and stable growth.
2024/25 Budget
At the same time, the Cabinet highlighted that the proposed budget is set to reduce the budget deficit by nearly 50%.
“IN LINE with the Administration’s fiscal consolidation strategy, which seeks to reduce government borrowing, and in pursuit of the aspiration to achieve a balanced budget by 2027, the proposed budget consolidates these efforts by reducing the budget deficit by nearly 50%,” the despatch adds.
Other key highlights of the proposals to be expected, according to the Cabinet, include the advancement of the realization of economic and social rights, such as Universal Health Coverage, freedom from hunger, education, clean water, and sanitation.
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In addition, the Cabinet has hinted that the budget further positions the economy for export- led growth while allocating additional resources to facilitate production and completion of ongoing infrastructure projects.
Kenyans Reject Finance Bill 2024
President Ruto chaired the meeting at a time a section of companies and Kenyans at large have rejected most proposals in the Finance Bill 2024 as Parliament is set to debate on the Finance Bill.
The uproar among Kenyans has seen some Kenyans embark on an unprecedented campaign blitz to pressurize their Member of Parliaments into outrightly rejecting what has been roundly termed as draconian.
However, the National Treasury on Tuesday, June 11, came out to defend the proposed tax measures in the Bill stating that the decision to introduce new taxes was informed by the country’s huge debt.
Treasury Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo, while appearing before the Finance and Planning Committee, noted the country was grappling with a debt of Ksh11 trillion.
Paris Olympics
Meanwhile, the Cabinet has also approved the establishment of the Kenya House Experience 2024 in Paris, France as part of the preparations for the upcoming Summer Olympic Games.
Cabinet, in keeping with a tradition established in 2012, approved the Experience which is aimed at showcasing Kenya as the epitome of tourism being the home of mankind, promote investments and trade, and celebrate those who have continued to make our national anthem echo around capitals of the World.
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