Gov’t Lowers Cost of Transferring Money via M-Pesa in Budget Proposals

The government has lowered the cost of transfer of money following the review of excise duty.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u on Thursday announced a reprieve in the money transfers with excise duty reviewed from 20 percent down to 15 percent for M-Pesa operators.

This translates to lower transaction costs.

Cement manufacturers are also a happy lot with this year’s budget removing excise duty on cement clinker, a move that could see the cost of the construction component come down.

Vulnerable groups have also been considered in the budget. Cash transfers to elderly have been allocated Ksh.18.6 billion while orphans have been allocated Ksh.7.9 billion.

The government removed excise duty on imported eggs, potatoes and onions originating from the East African Community region, thus importers of the products close the list of winners this year.

The government also noted a shift in advertising of alcoholic beverages from the traditional media to online advertising and has widened the tax scope to rope in online advertisements.

Farmers are also among the big winners in the 2024/2025 financial budget with an allocation of Sh54.6 billion.

Ndungu said the farmers will get Sh10 billion worth of subsidised fertilizer.

This is a decrease from the previous year’s allocation of Sh16 billion.

Livestock resource management and development has been allocated Sh12.3 billion, with further allocations to small scale irrigation and food security.

These include small scale irrigation and value addition project (Sh647 million), emergency locusts response (Sh2.5 billion), youth and women in agriculture (Sh2.4 billion), National Agricultural Value Chain Development Project (Sh6.1 billion), Food Security and Crop Diversification Project (Sh642 million) among others.

However, there are also some losers in this year’s budget statement as read by Ndungu in Parliament on Thursday.

Alcohol lovers will dig deeper into their pockets with the government having increased excise duty on wines beer and spirits.

Consumers will now pay more based on alcoholic content of their favorite drink.

This year’s budget is also out to choke smokers with a harmonized excise duty at Sh4,100 per millilitre. Liquid nicotine has also seen an increase from Sh70 to Sh100 per millilitre.

Further, there is an increment in excise duty on betting, gaming, lottery and prize competition from 12.5 percent up to 20 percent.