Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) missed collection target in the first three months of 2023/24 fiscal year to September by more than Ksh 31 billion.
Quarterly Economic and Budgetary Review report indicates that the taxman recorded a shortfall in ordinary revenue of Ksh 42 billion, despite launching an aggressive revenue collection measures and deploying security teams to net tax evaders.
Between July and September 2023, total revenue collected including Appropriation-in-Aid amounted to Ksh 629.6 billion against a target of Ksh 661.2 billion, a shortfall of Ksh 31.6 billion on account of underperformance of ordinary revenue.
In the period under review, the foreign exchange reserves slightly dipped to an equivalent of 4.1 months of import cover compared to the 4.4 months of import cover in the same period last year.
According to the report, Kenya’s current account deficit narrowed to 4.1pc of GDP from 5.3pc of gross domestic product in September 2022 on account of a shrinking trade deficit.
The balance in the merchandise account improved mainly due to a decline in the import bill while exports contracted by 2pc mainly due to a decline in horticultural exports particularly cut flowers.
On the other hand, imports declined by 13.2pc in the 12 months to September 2023, mainly due to lower imports of infrastructure related equipment, manufactured goods, oil, and chemicals.
The total expenditure and net lending inclusive of transfers to County Governments for the period ending September 30, 2023 amounted to Ksh 804.2 billion against a target of Ksh 859.2 billion.
The total outstanding national government pending bills for the period amounted to Ksh 630.6 billion despite a policy on clearance of pending bills being in force that directs all state.
