The Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) accounts for 13.89 percent of the idle cash held by State corporations in commercial banks, making it the cash richest parastatal in the country.
Data from the National Treasury shows that the rural roads agency held Sh27.93 billion in banks as of December 2023, more than any other parastatal.
In total, the 177 parastatals listed by the Treasury held Sh201.055 billion in banks during the period, with those in the energy and infrastructure sectors particularly having the healthiest bank balances.
Power generator KenGen held the second largest bank balance of Sh25.3 billion, followed by electricity distributor Kenya Power, which had Sh18.69 billion.
Other parastatals with large bank balances include the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) with Sh14.45 billion, the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) with Sh13.27 billion, and the Kenya National Highways Authority at Sh10.54 billion.
In total, parastatals under the Ministry of Roads and Transport held Sh65.01 billion in bank accounts during the period, the highest of any other ministry.
It was followed by those under Energy and Petroleum, which had Sh57.82 billion, the ICT (Sh18.61 billion), Health (Sh14.47 billion), the Education ministry (Sh12.93 billion), Tourism (Sh8.94 billion) and the Treasury (Sh6.56 billion).
Others include parastatals under the Agriculture ministry(Sh4.98 billion), EAC ministry (Sh3.38 billion), Defence (Sh279 million), Environment (Sh1.1 billion), Trade (Sh1.54 billion), Youth Affairs (Sh393 million), Public Service (Sh1.17 billion), Mining (Sh561 million), Labour (Sh563 million), Interior (Sh153 million) and Water (Sh2.1 billion).
Parastatals hold most of their cash and cash equivalents at commercial banks either through demand deposits that can be withdrawn at any time or term deposits with fixed periods.
The State agencies generate this cash from various undertakings including investments and financing activities. The huge balances in banks are big business for lenders, but this is set to change after the Cabinet in January approved the implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
The TSA, which has been in the making for more than a decade, will consolidate the finances of parastatals scattered across bank accounts.
In addition to efficiency, the TSA whose implementation will be staggered manner over three years, will also cut the administrative costs by eliminating bank account fees.
