Kenya Treasury sees 2019/20 budget deficit at 4.7pc of GDP

Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury Henry Rotich. [Photo: Reuters]

NAIROBI– Kenya’s 2019/20 (July-June) budget deficit is expected to fall to 4.7 percent of the gross domestic product from a revised 5.8 percent this fiscal year, a senior Treasury official said on Tuesday.

Kenyan government has been for ramping up borrowing and spending in recent years, leaving it with a fiscal deficit that peaked at 7 percent in the fiscal year that ended last June.

Kamau Thugge, the principal secretary at the Treasury, said at a public hearing on the country’s budget that the deficit was likely to drop to 2.8 percent of GDP by the 2022/23 fiscal year.

He said the government was likely to spend 2.81 trillion shillings ($27.40 billion) in the next fiscal year, up from a revised 2.47 trillion shillings in this financial year.