The Parliament Budget Office (PBO) has made available its assessment of the FY 22/23 budget estimates as presented by the National Treasury to Parliament. Some of the key highlights in the report include:
Review of the 2022/2023 budget indicates continued expansion of the fiscal deficit above the agreed levels.
Expenditure increase in the FY 22/23 has necessitated expansion of the deficit and this is mostly recurrent rather than development expenditure.
The Parliament Budget Office has observed at least six instances where the National treasury has breached the Constitution and PFM Act with regards to the FY 22/23.
There is no clarity on the path provided on restructuring the state-owned enterprises.
The PBO notes that the overall deficit has increased compared to the approved deficit level from the 2022 BPS.
Many of the National Assembly Resolutions made during the approval of the BPS have not been adhered to contrary to Section 38 (1)(f) of the PFM, Act, 2012.
Equalization fund estimates of expenditure for FY 2022/23 have not been provided contrary to legal provisions (Constitution Article 216(4); PFM section 38(b)(ii).
A review of the projections of BPS 2020, BPS 2021 and 2022 BPS vs the FY2022/23 Budget Estimates clearly indicates that the medium-term projections provided in BPS for outer years keep on changing. This means that most of the medium-term goals continue to be moving targets.
The Post-Covid Economic Recovery Strategy (ERS) developed in 2020 has never been submitted to Parliament for consideration and approval and its implementation is not monitored.
As at May 2022, the National Government is implementing over 4,477 projects across the country with estimated cost of at least Kshs. 5,249 billion. Total allocation for the FY 2022/23 to FY 2024/25 is equal to Kshs 2,770 billion assuming that no new projects are introduced in the period.
With regards to allocative efficiency, lack of project implementation status report to parliament makes it difficult to justify the value for money in the development budget allocation.