Public Expenditure Reviews

Public Expenditure Reviews (PER) provide a critical assessment of past public spending, challenges, weaknesses, and successes of the Country’s financial undertaking. It provides recommendations on enhancement and consolidation of gains made as well as addressing challenges observed in the country’s public expenditure management. The PER also assesses the extent to which public expenditure addresses national and sub-national priorities to strengthen the link between policies, planning, and budgeting at both levels of government. Subsequently, it informs current and future expenditure and budget decisions.

The PER is based on research of these expenditures to show the effects public spending contributes to the development of the various sectors of the economy. Notable areas of research include comparison of expenditure and welfare at different levels of the economy and the impact of financial mix in the economy.  The Directorate prepares 3-year Comprehensive Public Expenditure Reviews and also conducts Public Expenditure Tracking surveys in selected sectors.

Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys (PETs) seek to establish the funds received at each point in the chain of Public Service delivery, from the National Treasury to the last point where the funds are intended to be spent at the sub-national level. PETs are done to identify financial leakages in the system and to identify bottlenecks in programme implementation so as to diagnose problems in service delivery . In collaboration with the partners which included World Bank and GIZ, the Directorate has undertaken PETS in Agriculture, Health and Education sectors.

The Directorate undertakes intensive research in a few sectors every three years and produces a CPER. The CPER gives a comprehensive analysis of expenditures on the selected sectors with a focus on answering the following questions: Who benefits from the substantial amounts of public resources? How efficient are we utilizing available resources? Is the current level of spending in specific sectors sufficient? Where are the gaps? Are there difficulties in the disbursement of funds through the Government Budget System? How does Kenya compare with other Sub – Saharan African Countries? Two CPERs have been prepared so far CPER 2013 themed “eye on the budget” and the CPER 2017 themed from evidence to policy.