•Sh1.171 trillion out of the total Sh2.7 trillion spending plan for the current financial year had been disbursed as at December 31.
•The national government received Sh1.054 trillion of the Sh2.273 planned receipts for the current financial year with county county governments getting Sh117.3 billion.
Image: FILE
Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) collected Sh779.3 billion in the first half of the 2019-2020 financial year.
This is 45.7 per cent of the target Sh1.7 trillion revised target for the current financial year, meaning the taxman is lagging behind his target.
According to the National Treasury—Statement of Actual Revenues and Net Exchequer Issues as at December 31, 2019, total revenue receipts stood at Sh1.245 trillion,with Treasury expecting to net in a whooping Sh2.651 trillion by June 30, 2020, when the financial year closes.
The received amounts includes non-tax income of Sh78.5 billion, which is slightly half the targeted Sh138.8 billion.
Domestic borrowing for the period closed at Sh258.2 billion which is half the Sh514 billion 2019-20 financial year target.
During the six months(July-December) foreign governments and international organizations gave the exchequer a total of Sh10.1 billion with this year's targeted loans from these entities standing at Sh66.1 billion.
Sh1.171 trillion out of the total Sh2.7 trillion spending plan for the current financial year had been disbursed to different ministries, Presidency, departments commissions and counties.
Total issues to the county governments, according to a gazette notice issued on Friday by Treasury CS Ukur Yatani, stood at Sh117.3 billion at December.
This is about 30.9 per cent of the total Sh378.5 billion estimated amount expected by counties from the exchequer this year.
On the other hand, the national government received Sh1.054 trillion of the Sh2.273 planned receipts for the current financial year.
Monies released for development for the six months stood at Sh112.8 billion, way below the half-mark of the Sh420.8 billion expected by June 30.
Some of the ministries and state departments that have received big chunks of the budget include the State Department of Infrastructure which in the six months, it received a total of Sh23.8 billion.
State Department of Planning got Sh10.1 billion during the period.
Water and sanitation had received Sh9.9 billion in its accounts as of December while the State Department for Energy got Sh9.8 billion.
“Inadequate monitoring and evaluation of projects under implemented have in the past led to delays in completion, stalling of projects and wastage of public funds,” Yatani noted during a public hearing for the next financial year's budget, in Nairobi on January 15.
KRA is under pressure to meet its target for the year, to help meet spending plans where the country has a budget of Sh3.02 trillion.
The taxman has been implementing a number of measures which includes introduction of Excise Goods Management System (EGMS) on bottled water, juices, energy drinks, soda and other non-alcoholic beverages.
The authority is expecting to collect an additional Sh4 billion in excise tax from the initiative which came into place in November 13.
The government collected Sh1.58 trillion in revenue for the financial year ended June 2019 , an increase compared to Sh1.435 trillion collected in financial year 2017/18.