Tax & Spend
Kenya Cuts Budget, Sees Wider Deficit After Deadly Protests
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Kenya sees its budget gap widening to 3.6% of gross domestic product under a revised spending plan after deadly protests that left at least 41 people dead forced President William Ruto to back down on plans to raise $2.7 billion in new taxes.
The East African nation, which had previously projected a budget deficit of 3.3% of GDP, also plans to cut its budget spending by nearly 2% to 3.87 trillion shillings ($29.9 billion) in the period through June 2025, Treasury principal secretary Chris Kiptoo said in a supplementary budget sent to lawmakers and posted on National Assembly website. Total revenue is seen declining to 17.5% of GDP from an earlier estimate of 18.5%.