The National Treasury has committed to lowering the tax burden in Kenya, promoting accountability and providing support to the education sector which would in turn offer employment opportunities and fight corruption.
Speaking during a press briefing at the Treasury Building in Nairobi, the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Economic Planning John Mbadi said that the ministry is coming up with a system that would not only promote transparency but also broaden the tax base.
‘The government through the National Treasury must come up with a tax base as there are a number of taxable areas that the ministry has not been targeting,’ he said.
Mbadi further revealed that the ministry has initiated the digitization of the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to enhance taxation.
‘This digitization is in line with Kenya’s economic agenda aimed at broadening the country’s tax base,’ he emphasized.
The CS also announced that the National Treasury had digitized public procurement to promote good governance and tran
sparency which would help fight corruption.
‘We want to automate our system for budgeting procurement which would in turn discourage theft of public funds,’ he said.
The CS added that after consultations with the Office of the President, both parties have agreed on a number of reforms among them the system reform that would assist KRA in collecting taxes more efficiently.
Mbadi stated that the ministry has committed to increasing liquidity in the Kenyan market by paying pending bills, which he noted aims at creating more employment opportunities, especially for the youth.
He mentioned that his ministry would hold discussions on how to reduce the lending rates that banks normally demand from the private sector.
‘We want the interest rates to come down so that banks could give more money to private businesses. This will be made possible by lowering the Central Bank Rates (CBR),’ he emphasized.
To promote good governance, the CS announced that the National Treasury has played a pivotal role in managing the
country’s financial resources while promoting social justice and accountability.
The CS announced that the government has initiated an accrual accounting system where all government liabilities would be captured in the National Treasury balance sheets when generating financial statements to promote accountability.
Source: Kenya News Agency