Kenya: Selected Issues
IMF Staff Country Reports, January 17, 2024
Source details
- Canonical URL
- Kenya: Selected Issues
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Bibliographic details
- Published: January 17, 2024
- Series: IMF Staff Country Reports
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400264467.002
Scope and data
- Examines tax policy and administrative changes in Eastern African Community (EAC) countries to benchmark Kenya’s experience and draw lessons for future tax reforms.
- Uses granular data from a new IMF database on tax measures announced during 1988–2022.
Key findings
- EAC policymakers frequently changed their tax system and administrations by announcing tax packages that typically consisted of measures to narrow the tax base and strengthen tax administrative practices.
- Kenya appeared to be one of the EAC countries that most frequently announced and introduced such changes.
- Frequent announcements and introductions of tax measures in Kenya might have played a significant role in explaining the reduction in the tax-to-gross domestic product ratio experienced by the country since 2014.
Methodological caveats
- The frequency of tax measures is not an indicator of the actual revenue impact of such measures.
- Looking at the frequency of changes can help identify reform episodes and provide a sense of their duration and comprehensiveness, but does not substitute for measures of revenue outcomes.
Subject coverage and keywords
- Subjects: Economic sectors, Exchange rates, Financial statements, Fiscal policy, Fiscal risks, Foreign exchange, International organization, Monetary policy, Public financial management (PFM), Public sector.
- Keywords: Australia and New Zealand, EAC policymaker, exchange rate shock, Exchange rates, Financial statements, Fiscal risks, Global, HM Treasury, Public sector, public sector balance sheet approach, public sector balance sheet methodology, public sector balance sheet vulnerability, Tax-to-GDP ratio.
Content in this bundle
- Kenya: Selected Issues; IMF Country Report No. 24/14; December 22, 2023