NAIROBI, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Kenya on Wednesday announced plans to reduce its fiscal deficit in order to preserve the country's debt sustainability.
Chris Kiptoo, principal secretary for the National Treasury and Economic Planning, told journalists in Nairobi, Kenya's capital, that the government targets to reduce the fiscal deficit from 6.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) at the end of the 2021/22 financial year which ended in June 2022 to 5.8 percent in June 2023.
"This will lead to stability in growth of the public debt," Kiptoo said during the public hearings for the financial year 2023/24 and the medium-term budget preparation.
Kiptoo disclosed that the growth-friendly fiscal consolidation will be achieved through enhancing revenue collection and suspending expenditures in some recurrent areas such as domestic and foreign travels.
He revealed that the fiscal deficit is projected to decline further to 4.3 percent of GDP in the 2023/24 financial year budget and 3.5 percent of GDP over the medium term. ■