Fiscal deficit to fall to 6.0 percent of GDP in 2018/19 financial year

NAIROBI, KENYA: Country’s fiscal deficit is projected to fall to 7.2 percent of GDP in the financial year to the end of June, from 8.9 percent in the previous period, the Treasury said in a draft budget policy statement seen by Reuters on Monday.

Kenya has been criticised for failing to cut borrowing, after ramping up debt in the past five years to fund a range of ambitious infrastructure projects, including a modern railway line.

The deficit was expected to fall further to 6.0 percent of GDP in the 2018/19 (July-June) financial year, the Treasury said.

The government would cut its expenditure in order to reduce the deficit, the ministry of finance said in the document.