Kenya has unveiled a $28 billion (3.3 trillion shillings) budget for the 2022/23 fiscal year aimed at reviving the country’s economy.

Treasury Secretary, Ukur Yatani, said the budget would focus on building infrastructures that would reduce the rates of unemployment and grow the economy by 6% by the end of the year.

If the parliament approves the budget, the government will spend 146 billion shillings ($1.27 billion or 1.1 billion euros) on its ‘Big Four’ program that targets four development priorities for the country.

The Big Four

Kenya’s Big Four Agenda is a 5-year development initiative that would target infrastructural investments into providing affordable housing, quality healthcare, food security and industrial development.

In 2021, the UK government invested 20 billion Kenyan shillings in the Big Four projects, a combination of UK government aid (5.2 billion shillings) and privately raised funds (3.5 billion shillings) to finance the affordable homes project.

The UK also shared that the funds would cover its 67 million shillings commitment to funding the development of green manufacturing in Kenya, including the manufacturing of electric vehicles.

Kenya, like many African countries, is still recovering from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on its economy.

Mr Yatani added that one of the government’s strategies is to reduce the country’s deficit to 6.2% of the GDP, a 1.3% decline from its 7.5% deficit in 2021. The goal is to reduce expenditure and invest in industries that would increase revenues for the country.