NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya’s cabinet has approved planned spending of 4.2 trillion shillings ($32.65 billion) for the 2025/26 fiscal year (July-June), a statement from President William Ruto’s office said on Tuesday.
The proposed spending for 2025/26 is detailed in the finance ministry’s Budget Policy Statement. The cabinet also ratified an extra 199.9 billion shillings for expenditure in the 2024/25 budget.
The budget plans will now be submitted to parliament for approval, the President’s office said.
Ruto was forced to scrap tax hikes worth more than 346 billion shillings ($2.7 billion) in June in the face of youth-led demonstrations that created the biggest crisis of his presidency.
In July, the finance ministry projected overall spending at 3.87 trillion Kenyan shillings ($30 billion), down from 3.99 trillion shillings that had been presented to parliament a month earlier.
The cabinet reaffirmed the finance ministry’s economic growth forecasts of 5.3% in 2025 and 2026, from an estimated 4.6% expansion last year.
($1 = 128.6500 Kenyan shillings) (This story has been corrected to change the amount of additional expenditure in the 2024/25 budget to 199.9 billion shillings, not 344.8 billion shillings, in paragraph 2)
(Reporting by Monicah Mwangi; writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Bate Felix)
