County governments spent a total of Kshs.2.22 billion on development activities in the first quarter of the Financial Year 2022/2023.
The latest report by the Controller of Budget (COB) shows a decrease in the development budget absorption rate compared to the same period in the FY 2021/2022.
The amount represents an absorption rate of 1.4 per cent of the annual development budget of Kshs.160.58 billion.
In the First Quarter of FY 2022/23, the COB approved the transfer of Kshs.70.34 billion as the equitable share of revenue raised nationally from the Consolidated Fund to the various County Revenue Funds (CRFs)
According to the Controller of Budget, Margaret Nyakang’o, the transferred amounts included Kshs.29.6 billion which was in arrears from FY 2021/22.
The COB report shows that the total expenditure by county governments in the First Quarter of FY 2022/23 was Kshs.54.82 billion.
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The expenditure represented an overall absorption rate of 11.4 per cent of the total Annual County Governments’ Budget of Kshs.478.87 billion.
County governments recurrent expenditure stood at Kshs.52.60 billion, representing 16.5 per cent of the annual recurrent budget.
Cumulatively, the report further shows that county governments spent a total of Kshs.43.15 billion (78.7 per cent) on Personnel Emoluments, Kshs.9.45 billion (17.2 per cent) on Operations and Maintenance, and Kshs.2.22 billion (4 per cent) on Development Expenditure.
Nyakang’o says that Tana River and Wajir Counties did not report any expenditure during the period.
This was occasioned by the failure to approve their budget for FY 2022/23 during the period under review.
