Lest we forget: Last year’s (2021/22) budget highlights

It was a Sh3.6 trillion affair to a nation crippled by the coronavirus pandemic and the second budget since the first case of the virus was reported in the country in March 2020.

• Saw an increase of Sh800 billion from Sh2.84 trillion in the 2020/21 financial year.
• Exchequer set itself an arduous target of collecting more than a trillion shillings in taxes by the end of June 2022. This was termed as very ambitious given the fact that the taxman had been missing targets.

• Yatani told Members of Parliament he would seek their permission to raise Kenya’s debt ceiling from Sh9 trillion to a higher figure to allow the country manage its debt operations and finance a Sh930 billion deficit in the new budget.
• In 2021 Kenya’s public debt went past Sh7.28 billion in December 2020, an equivalent of 65.6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), from Sh6.01 trillion or 58.0 percent of GDP in 2020.
• Despite facing criticism that Kenya’s appetite for borrowing had been insatiable, the minister said the country’s debt “remained sustainable though its carrying capacity continues to decline”.
• In the budget, Health, Education and Defence ministries got some of the biggest allocations.
• Yatani proposed the allocation of Sh14.3 billion to facilitate the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines to create herd immunity, in addition to the Sh7.6 billion appropriated in the 2020/21 budget.

Here is how key ministries faired in the allocations.

Health: Sh121.1 billion to the Health sector to support of its various programmes.

Security: Sh294.5 billion was allocated to the Defence, National Police and National Intelligence Service.

Transport: Sh182.5 billion

Education: Sh2.2 billion

Agriculture: Sh60b