Key highlights of the 2023/2024 budget

By Peter Ochieng

Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Finance Professor Njuguna Ndung'u on Thursday tabled the 2023/2024 budget estimates in the National Aseembly.

The Sh3.6 trillion budget, the first under President William Ruto's administration is the biggest in history.

Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta's last budget - the 2022/2023 stood at Sh3.3 trillion.

Here are the key highlights of Ruto's first budget:

The education sector under CS Ezekiel Machogu is among the biggest beneficiaries.

The sector has been allocated Sh628 billion, with the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) getting a sizable share of the education budget.

HELB has been allocated Sh30 billion, up from Sh15 billion allocation in the last budget.

The hustler fund has been allocated Sh10 billion in the 2023/2024 financial year.

During campaigns ahead of the August, 2022 polls, Ruto, then deputy president promised to initiate the hustler fund if elected Head of State.

He launched the fund few weeks after being sworn in, in September, 2022.

On the agriculture front, fertilizer subsidy has been allocated Sh5 billion so as to increase the rate of food production in the country.

Sh25 billion was allocated to clear arreas of fuel subsidies incurred during the previous regime.

Meanwhile, Sh250 billion will go into road construction across the country, as Sh3 billion is expected to be pumped into completion of the construction of 181 stalled markets that were initiated in 2008.

Sh4.7 billion will go to counties as conditional grants to establish 47 aggregation and industrial parks in each county, as extra Sh3 billion is allocated for 6 Export Processing Zones (EPZs).

The Executive, which comprises of ministries, state departments and agencies, will receive the bulk of the allocation at Sh2.16 trillion.

Parliament, which stands for National Assembly and Senate, will receive a total of Sh40.4 billion, while the Judiciary has been allocated Sh22.99 billion.

Counties will receive Sh385.4 billion.