Hard truths. Bold Insights. Real talk.
In a public notice issued on Thursday, the Treasury said the Budget Statement for the new financial year would outline the government’s spending plans and economic priorities for the period beginning July 2026.
According to Mbadi, governments across the continent are being forced to carefully juggle between funding development projects and managing strained budgets. He pointed to global financial conditions that have made borrowing “more expensive, less predictable and restrictive for developing economies,” adding further pressure on already stretched public finances.
CS Mbadi highlighted the country’s strong performance across key sectors including agriculture, services, construction, and trade.
CS Mbadi highlighted that the government has been holding discussions with donors through the Deputy President’s office while reviewing the full project pipeline to determine which initiatives might lack real value. The review also addresses the problem of counterpart funding, which can attract high fees, adding unnecessary costs to taxpayers.
Currently, failing to remit deducted contributions is not a criminal offence, and many pension schemes are underfunded as a result. Mbadi highlighted that numerous institutions owe retirees billions of shillings, creating a serious threat to the security of workers’ benefits.
The Treasury’s latest annual monetary report shows that the value of on-lent loans now stands at more than Sh1 trillion, made up of Sh874.91 billion in donor-funded financing and Sh322 billion from the national government. Many of these loans, the report notes, have been poorly utilised, with some projects stalling or failing to start.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi said the bond issue will build on a bridge financing programme worth Sh104 billion that government completed recently to help ease liquidity pressures faced by road firms. Out of that amount, Sh93 billion has already been distributed to contractors, allowing many stalled projects to resume and speeding up work at sites that had nearly been abandoned.
According to Treasury records, as of June 2024, Kenya owed TDB about $418 million (Sh54 billion) in syndicated loans scheduled to mature between September and early October 2025. The largest portion, about $314.2 million (Sh40.6 billion) was due on September 19, while the remaining $116.3 million (Sh15 billion) was to be settled by October 6.
Speaking at the signing, CS Mbadi described the DTA as a modern framework that ensures predictability and fairness in the taxation of cross-border income, mitigates risks of double taxation and strengthens measures against tax evasion.
The Anti-Money Laundering Advisory Board provides guidance to strengthen Kenya’s measures against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
Parliament had earlier revoked the directive requiring all public entities to adopt the digital platform, arguing that it violated Section 77 of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, which allows both manual and electronic methods.
In orders issued by Justice Bahati Mwamuye at the Milimani Law Courts, the court suspended Treasury Circular No. 104/2025, which had made onboarding to the e-GP platform compulsory for all public entities.