Three years after President William Ruto promised to build the economy from the bottom up, the 2026/27 budget suggests his administration is not backing away from that promise.
A review of key allocations shows billions of shillings have been directed towards agriculture, small businesses, affordable housing and land reforms, with Treasury betting that the sectors will create jobs, increase household incomes and stimulate economic activity across the country.
Presenting the budget on Thursday in parliament, Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi said the government had deliberately focused on programmes capable of delivering the biggest impact despite financial constraints.
“With limited fiscal space, this budget prioritizes interventions that deliver the greatest impact in job creation, higher household income and broader economic participation,” Mbadi said.
Agriculture emerged among the biggest beneficiaries, underlining its place at the centre of President Ruto’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.
“Agriculture remains central to BETA and Kenya’s long-term prosperity,” Mbadi told Parliament as he unveiled KSh 18 billion for fertilizer subsidies, KSh 5.4 billion for the Food Systems Resilience Project and KSh 4.7 billion for the National Agricultural Value Chain Development Project.
The budget also allocates KSh 9.4 billion towards the settlement of landless Kenyans, a move likely to resonate strongly in regions that have historically grappled with land ownership disputes.
Meanwhile, small businesses received another major boost. Treasury allocated billions towards enterprise financing, youth entrepreneurship and financial inclusion programmes.
Defending the allocations, Mbadi described MSMEs as the engine that keeps the economy running.
“MSMEs are the backbone of our economy. They account for 98 per cent of businesses, provide approximately 14.9 million jobs and contribute about 40 per cent to our GDP,” he said.
The government has allocated KSh 5.4 billion under the SAFER programme, KSh 4.9 billion for the NYOTA initiative and KSh 1.1 billion for the Rural Kenya Financial Inclusion Facility in an effort to expand access to affordable credit.
Taken together, the allocations paint a picture of a government that is placing its biggest economic bet on farmers, traders, artisans and entrepreneurs rather than large-scale consumption programmes.
Whether the billions translate into lower food prices, more jobs and higher incomes remains to be seen. But the message from Treasury was unmistakable: the farmer, the trader and the hustler remain at the centre of Kenya’s economic strategy.