Government cuts 2019/20 financial year spending plans by 2.1 per cent

Acting Finance Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yattani

The National Treasury has cut the government’s planned spending for the 2019/20 (July-June) fiscal year by 2.1 per cent, equivalent to Sh46.2 billion, a budget review document showed on Thursday.

The former finance Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich was criticised for raising spending in June and imposing additional tax measures on already squeezed taxpayers.

The current minister, Ukur Yatani, who was appointed to the post in an acting capacity in July, promised strict spending cuts aimed mainly at non-essential items such as foreign travel by officials.

The cuts to the budget for this fiscal year were mainly caused by revenue collection shortfalls, the ministry said in its budget review.

They were attained through “trade-offs and reallocations of the existing budgetary provisions,” it said.