Govt pending bills grow by Ksh.12 billion in three months

The National Government has continued to accumulate arrears to its suppliers with the stock of pending bills hitting Ksh.346.2 billion at the end of September.

This from Ksh.334.2 billion at the end of June this year according to new data contained in the National Treasury quarterly economic and budgetary review report.

State corporations continue to carry the bulk of the arrears at Ksh.284.5 billion or an equivalent 82.2 per cent of all outstanding bills with ministries carrying the Ksh.61.7 billion balance.

The State corporations pending bills cover payments to contractors, suppliers’, pension arrears and unremitted statutory deductions.

Arrears by ministries and other State departments meanwhile compose of historically contested pending bills at the end of the 2019-20 financial year.

The steady rise in pending bills accrued by the national government mirrors the continued non-prioritization of the first charge balances and against directives by the National Treasury which called on entities to fast-track payments.

Further, the accumulation of pending bills is attributable to a stay on low budget absorptions with disbursement to national government entities falling shy of the mark by Ksh.40.6 billion over three months to September.

The low budget absorption was preceded by a dip in revenue collection with total revenue raised in the period including ministerial aid (A-i-A) slacking to Ksh.378.7 billion against a target of Ksh.428.9 billion to leave a Ksh.50.2 billion financing hole.