Treasury has disbursed Sh18 billion to be used in tackling Coronavirus pandemic.Treasury CS Ukur Yatani said the money will be used to boost the health sector, help in digging boreholes in slums and fund cash transfers to the elderly and other vulnerable Kenyans.
This is part of a Sh40.3 billion war-chest to be spent on addressing the adverse impacts that have resulted from coronavirus pandemic, ravaging the whole world and threatening economies.New tax reliefs will only last till August
Mr. Yatani said that more money should be released today with the passage of a supplementary budget. Treasury has so far allocated Sh13 billion to pay pending bills to small businesses and as it directed Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to release tax refunds adding to Sh10 billion.
Another Sh10 billion has been released to facilitate cash transfer programme for the elderly.
On Wednesday, National Assembly passed a Tax Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 which now paves the way for workers earning less than Sh24,000 a month to be exempted from paying Pay-As-You Earn tax on their salaries while other employees will enjoy 5% tax relief.
In containing the virus, the National Assembly’s Budget and Appropriations Committee, The CS said the state had made significant efforts to contain COVID-19 spread.
“We have in this regard provided Sh40.3 billion to mitigate against the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which comprise Sh33.4 billion under recurrent and Sh6.9 billion under development,” Yatani said.
Maize farmers are also set to benefit from Sh10 billion that government has allocated to the Strategic Grain Reserve to be spent in replenishing national silos. Yatani said the Agriculture ministry is already engaging some select county governors by inquiring about food availability in their counties.treasury-releases-sh40-billion-to-fight-covid-19-pandemic
The state is expected to disburse cash to slum dwellers with reports already indicating that low-income earners will get a small monthly stipend of Sh2,000.
The second supplementary also contain estimates of Sh400 million allocations for food relief and non-food commodities in arid and semi-arid areas and additional Sh200 million to the police for enforcement of curfew and other orders and Sh200 million for prisons to combat the pandemic behind bars.
Yattani dispelled reports that the state spends Ksh1 billion every day for 40 days since the first Covid-19 case was reported in the country as the mini-budget tabled before Parliament also indicated that the Ksh40 billion was the amount allocated to contain the coronavirus spread.
