The 2018 County Fiscal Strategy Paper (CFSP) for the Financial years 2018/ 19 and the medium term2019/20 and 2020/21 respectively reiterates the county governments development objectives of creatingemployment, increasing land productivity, and reducing the number of the poor in the population.Strategies to enable the county attain the above stated objectives includes; creating a conducive business environment that promotes investments in the county; investing in key interventions particularly in the agricultural sector to increase productivity,reduce post harvest loses, ensure food security and promote value addition and diversification; investing in infrastructural development in areas such as county roads, fresh produce markets,health facilities and other social infrastructure, including street lighting and provision of water; investing in quality and accessible health care services and quality education as well asstrengthening the social safety net to reduce the burden of dependence on the households andpromote shared and equitable growth and Supporting the county public service for better service delivery.The above key interventions have translated into increased maize harvest from about 4 million bags toover 5 million bags annually, increased milk production, increased acreage on coffee, tea and horticulturalcrops. Two hundred (200) ECD classrooms have been constructed therefore improving enrolment rate,upgraded/increased health facilities leading to improved quality and access to better health services.Grading/rehabilitation and construction of county access roads and bridges has improved transport andcommunication across the county. Several water projects/schemes among them drilling of new boreholeshave also been completed hence increasing access to clean portable water. The gains from the aboveinterventions go a long way to address the county development objectives and create a strong base forraising more revenues locally.While the above trends are expected in the financial year 2018/19, the low agricultural prices, coupledwith increasing cost of input are likely to depress the growth momentum. In addition, volatility in oilprices in the world market and unpredictable rainfall patterns may distort the framework upon which thispolicy is based on. But overly, County and national development parameters point to a positive growth.The 2018 is the fifth County Fiscal Strategy Paper to be prepared by the County Government of TransNzoia since the inauguration of the county government in 2013 under the new constitutional dispensation.The overall objective of the CFSP is to link policy, planning and budgeting. Specifically, the CFSP seeksto: Ensure a sound and sustainable balance between the county Governments spending, revenue andborrowing requirements that are in line with the law and economical sustainability; Set out strategies of enhancing local revenue collection to augment the CRA allocations; Outline policy initiative and spending that support growth in the key sectors of the economy includingagriculture, health care services, trade and industry whose contribution to employment creation is vitalin the county economy. 3 | P a g e It will also be a means of communicating and disseminating the countys budget proposal andtherefore encourage transparency and partnership in the budget making process during the publichearings It provides an updated resource envelop and presents a fiscal framework for 2018/19 budget and themedium term.This strategy is aligned to the countrys growth objectives of 50% poverty reduction, 50% job creation,and increasing productivity by 50%. In consistent with PFM Act 2012, resource allocation has beenaligned to the Countys medium-term plan;- the County integrated Development Plan (CIDP) which isbeing developed and being aligned to the National governments big 4 development agenda namely foodsecurity, affordable housing, universal health care and manufacturing..This policy has also been aligned to the National Budget policy statement (BPS) whose theme is creating jobs, transforming lives-The Big Four Plan through; (i) creating a conducive businessenvironment for job creation; (ii) investing in sectoral transformation to ensure broad based andsustainable economic growth with a major focus on agricultural transformation to ensure food security andincreased farm yields; (iii) investing in infrastructure in areas such as transport, logistics, energy andwater; (iv) investing in quality and accessible health care services and quality education as well asstrengthening the social safety net to reduce the burden on households and promote shared prosperity; and(v) further consolidating gains made in devolution in order to provide better service delivery and enhancedeconomic development.This agenda is well entrenched the 2018/19 county budget where the focus is in:- Training and Capacity Building & motivation of county staff for effective service delivery; Entrenching Citizen participation in the county development process; Creating enabling investment environment; Fast tracking the implementation of the CIDP; Creating an enabling environment for growth in business and investments; Re-engineering the county systems of service delivery in order to attain the developmentobjectives of the County; Rehabilitating, expanding and maintenance of county roads Promoting agricultural productivity and diversification, Ensuring easy access to basic social services including water, education and health careThe performance in the 1st half of 2017/18 has also greatly informed this strategy. There has been a majorunderperformance on the local revenue collections as well expenditure on capital projects. This situation isattributed to the political scenario of the whole of the 2017 calendar year. However improvement isforeseen at the start of 2018 calendar year as seen in improved local revenue collection and absorption rateof the development funds. Consequently, the budget ceilings set out for FY 2018/19 have been adjustedaccordingly. 4 | P a g eOther factors that impacted negatively the growth process in the local economy include; rising cost ofliving, food insecurity, declining agricultural productivity, inadequate and high cost of energy, droughtand fall army warm invasion, poor transport network, and high and unsustainable public sector wage bill.However, their impacts were dampened by increased maize harvests, and increased milk productionamong others.

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