Kenya’s 2019/2020 Budget is Larger than that of Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda Combined

"The budget is not just a collection of numbers, but an expression of our values and aspirations."

 - Jack Lew

Kenya appears to be the Budget cash cow of East Africa.

Yesterday was the ‘day of budgets’ in the East African region, as Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda all presented their 2019/20 national budgets before their respective Houses of Parliament at the same time yesterday.

After the presentations and Budget statements by the various Cabinet Secretaries, it was noticed that Kenya’s 2019/2020 Budget, which stands at Sh3.02 trillion, was more than that of Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania combined.

Kenya’s 2019/20 Sh3.02 trillion Budget was followed by Tanzania’s Budget of Sh1.4 trillion. Uganda presented a national budget of Sh1.08 trillion and Rwanda, who wasn’t in the realm of trillions released a budget of just Sh316 billion.

According to the statistics, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda 2019/20 national budgets amount to Sh2.8 trillion. That is surprisingly around Sh200 billion less than Kenya’s budget.

An interesting point of concern is the population of various countries:

The population of Kenya is 49.7 million (2017)

The population of Uganda is 42.86 million (2017)

The population of Tanzania is 57.31 million (2017)

The population of Rwanda is 12.21 million (2017)

The Rwandan finance minister, Uzziel Ndagijimana proposed that 85.8 percent of the budget would come from internal sources and the rest from external grants.

“The economy is projected to grow 7.8 percent in 2019 from 8.6 percent in 2018”, he said.

According to Tanzania's finance minister, the country's overall spending during the 2019/20 period will rise 2 percent to Ksh1.4 trillion.

Philip Mpango, its finance minister told parliament on Thursday that the John Pombe Magufuli led government also plans to borrow Tsh2.32 trillion from external non-concessional sources.

Uganda finance minister Matia Kasaija said the government spending is set to rise 23 percent in 2019/20 to Sh1.08 trillion

“To address this decline and to boost excise revenues, I propose to increase the rates of excise duty on cigarettes, wines, and spirit by 15 percent,” Kenya’s Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich said yesterday.

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Header Image Credit: Kenyan Wallstreet