Idle funds lying in State agencies shrink on COVID-19 woes

Idle funds lying in State agencies have plummeted on the back of woes occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.

New data contained in the National Treasury Draft 2021 Budget, Review & Outlook Paper (BROP) shows the exchequer mopped a mere Ksh.2.8 billion from the parastatals in the financial year concluding in June.

This against a greater target of Ksh.24.4 billion for the fiscal cycle and Ksh.70.1 billion in receipts from the surpluses in the year ending June 2020.

The National Treasury has attributed the dip in surpluses to the fall out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The remainder of investment income stream for the government has remained largely unchanged against the challenges occasioned by the global health crisis.

For instance, income from dividends arising from companies in which the State holds stakes rose to Ksh.37.6 billion to beat both the Ksh.32.5 billion target and Ksh.34.6 billion collected previously.

Meanwhile, dividends from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) were booked at Ksh.7.5 billion, the same receipts as the target for the year and represented proceeds from the reserve bank’s demonetization exercise which had previously closed in September 2019.

At the same time, the government has earned Ksh.24.8 billion from directors fees, a figure slightly lower than the target of Ksh.31.7 billion but greater than Ksh.16.7 billion previously.

The fall of surpluses likely signals a tightening financial positions in the State agencies- likely a factor of reduced exchequer disbursements and/or reduced on source mobilization in the past year.

Previously, the idle funds have neared the Ksh.100 billion mark prompting the National Treasury to turn to the surpluses for financial support.

The Treasury begun first relying on the surpluses to boot the financing of government operations in November 2019.