NAIROBI, April 7 (Xinhua) — Kenya’s Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani on Thursday presented a financial budget of 3.3 trillion shillings (about 28.62 billion U.S. dollars) fiscal budget for 2022/2023, representing a 4.8 percent growth in public spending.
Yatani said the Kenyan economy staged a strong recovery in 2021 after suffering a 0.3 percent decline in 2020 due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
The government projects the economy will grow 6 percent in 2022 compared to 7.6 percent in 2021, Yatani said.
He said the government would implement an expanded economic recovery framework.
According to Yatani, the framework would lay emphasis on expanded infrastructure, a strong focus on the cost of doing business and an expanded access to crucial services including health and agricultural services under the devolved government system.
The 2022/2023 fiscal plan marks the end of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s two-term leadership of Kenya since 2013. During this period, Yatani said the Kenyan economy expanded by a massive 125 percent.
He said the current efforts to reform the economy would also focus on addressing the weaknesses recorded amongst the state-owned enterprises including Kenya Airways and Kenya Power, which have been loss-making.
Yatani said inflation remained within the target range while the foreign exchange market was also stabilized by the reduction in the current account deficit.
Yatani said the budget making process included the collection of views.
"We extensively consulted Kenyans in this year’s budget-making. Major concerns included the high cost of living, high-level unemployment amongst the youth and the high public debt burden," Yatani said. ■
