© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A customer makes a mobile money transfer, known as an M-Pesa, at a Safaricom agent booth, while holding Kenyan shillings (KSh) in Nairobi, Kenya, October 16, 2018. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya/File Photo
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya’s Finance Ministry has revised its spending and budget deficit estimates for the current fiscal year ending June to show a slight increase in overall spending but a smaller deficit.
Supplementary budget documents submitted to parliament showed overall spending was projected at 3.37 trillion shillings ($26.98 billion), up from 3.36 trillion shillings contained in the original budget submitted to parliament in April last year.
The deficit for the 2022/23 fiscal year is now seen at 5.7% of gross domestic product (GDP), up from the original 6.2%.
President William Ruto’s administration is trying to rein in the deficit after public debt rose sharply under his predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta, who oversaw a campaign to build infrastructure.
The supplementary budget said that net external financing was expected to be 2.7% of GDP from the original 2% seen in April 2022. Net internal financing is estimated at 3% of GDP against the original 4.2% .
Lawmakers have yet to approve the supplemental budget.
($1 = 124.9000 Kenyan shillings)