Kenya looks to fix finances by nailing tax cheats, cutting borrowing - Reuters

NAIROBI, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Kenya plans to nexus its taxation postulation strategy to mobile fiscal platforms to weed retired taxation evaders and boost gross by billions of shillings, portion of a raft of measures to repair its coffers, the concern ministry said successful a draught fund statement.

President William Ruto's administration, which took implicit past September, inherited a heavy indebted system aft his predecessor ramped up borrowing to physique infrastructure.

The authorities plans to summation taxation postulation by 17% to 2.57 trillion shillings ($20.7 billion) successful its fiscal twelvemonth starting successful July, the ministry said.

It volition besides trim its overseas borrowing people for 2023/24 by a percent constituent of GDP, and the home borrowing people by conscionable implicit a percent constituent of GDP, the connection said.

It called the argumentation a "growth affable fiscal consolidation program designed to dilatory the yearly maturation successful nationalist debt", adding that it volition besides transportation retired liability absorption effectively.

"This is expected to boost the country's indebtedness sustainability position," the ministry said.

As portion of the thrust to summation taxation collections, the levy collector Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) volition integrate its strategy with those of mobile telephone operators' fiscal platforms, to drawback those who bash not wage taxation connected their incomes.

The connection did not springiness much details connected the program but Ruto has antecedently said the fiscal accounts of tens of millions of mobile phones successful Kenya offered a accidental to boost revenue.

"There are lone 7 cardinal radical with KRA pin numbers," Ruto said, speaking of the registered taxpayers.

"At the aforesaid time, successful the aforesaid economy, Safaricom's M-Pesa has 30 cardinal registered customers, transacting billions daily," helium said astatine a ceremonial to people the yearly payer time past October.

Safaricom is the starring mobile relation successful Kenya, wherever astir radical usage M-Pesa and different services to transportation cash, save, get and marque payments for goods and services.

Apart from going aft mobile telephone wealth accounts, the authorities volition besides question to rise much depletion taxes and guarantee that spot owners are paying their just share, the Treasury said.

Ruto's authorities plans to slash the fund shortage to 4.3% of GDP successful the 2023/24 fiscal year, from an estimated 5.8% successful the existent period, earlier cutting it further to 3.6% successful the 2026/27 period.

($1 = 123.9500 Kenyan shillings)

Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Vin Shahrestani

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