Kenya hit a 5-year high inflation by October this year following the progressive increase in fuel, food and other commodities’ price. This is according to the Kenya Bureau of Statistics. The monthly rate of inflation in October was at 9.6% from 9.2% in September. This indicates the state of a depressed economy.
The Trade and Industry Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria while speaking during the 4 th Annual Investment Conference in Nairobi said that the government is focusing on reducing public expenditure and external borrowing. He says the country is now trying to balance its debt portfolio, following a surge in commercial debts that have become expensive to repay.
“We are looking at public private partnerships which also fall within the state department for investment as a new preferred form of financing our development. So today if you’re looking to give money to government and ten the government is supposed to take that money into housing or into water or into energy, we’ll say thank you very much, but don’t give that money to treasury.” Trade and Industry CS Moses Kuria said.
According to Fred Swaniker, the founder and CEO of African Leadership, Kenya and other African countries should focus on sectors that can boost the economy.
“We spend 50 billion dollars a year importing food to Africa and we have perfect soil condition and rain and abundant sunshine that we should be producing for ourselves. Stock markets are crushing, well, that means that there is great opportunities for you to find stocks with better valuation like tourism, Americans are feeling richer now, so what are we doing to attract them to come to Kenya.” Fred Swaniker, founder and CEO of African Leadership said.
Data from the Kenya Bureau of statistics indicates that Kenya will add another 11.7 million to the job market over a period of 15 years from 2020. This points to mounting an employment in an economy that is not generating adequate jobs for school leavers and graduates. This comes as a growing number of consumers are pursuing personal loans to make ends meet, with high inflation putting the squeeze on household finances.
The CS says that the solutions lie in making basic decisions that simplifies the operations of the government.
By Calvin Angatia
