Kenya's economy recorded a 5.3 per cent growth in the first quarter of 2023 to 6.2 per cent in a similar quarter in 2022, the fourth quarterly review report by the Treasury shows.
This, Treasury said, is attributed to a rebound of the agriculture sector and the continued resilience of service sectors.
Similarly, the overall inflation rate remained above 7.5 per cent upper bound target since June 2022.
As of June this year, the inflation rate remained "sticky" at 7.9 per cent as it was in June last year driven by relatively higher food and fuel prices.
“The Central Bank tightened the monetary policy by raising its rate to 10.50 per cent in June 2023 from 9.50 per cent in March 2023 to anchor inflation expectations,” the report states.
Foreign exchange reserves held by the Central Bank stood at $8,036.7 million in June 2023 compared to $8,494.9 million in June 2022.
“This represented 4.4 months of import cover as compared to the 4.9 months of import cover, respectively, and therefore provides an adequate buffer against short-term shocks in the foreign exchange market,” it said.
In terms of revenue collection, the national government’s cumulative collection including Appropriation-in-Aid (A-I-A) for the period between July 2022 and June 2023 amounted to Sh2.36 billion.
This represented 16.3 percent of GDP against a target of Sh2.47 billion.
The revenue was below target mainly due to shortfalls recorded in collection of both ordinary revenue and ministerial A.I.A.
Total foreign financing amounted to Sh310.8 billion which is 2.1 percent of the GDP as at June this year while domestic financing amounted to a net borrowing of Sh459.5 billion during the same period.
During the same period, the government serviced a guaranteed debt on behalf of Kenya Airways (KQ) amounting to Sh12.3 billion.
The fiscal balance excluding grants on a commitment basis amounted to a deficit of Sh857.7 billion as compared to a target of Sh887.9 billion.
The quarterly economic and budgetary review report is published in accordance with Section 83 of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012.
It provides that an accounting officer of a national government entity prepares a report for each quarter of the financial year and submit to the Treasury a copy not later than 15 days after the end of each quarter.
The Cabinet Secretary responsible for an entity shall then forward a copy of the report to the Treasury Cabinet Secretary and Controller of Budget.
