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{
    "id": 1130215,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1130215/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 54,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta",
    "speaker_title": "His Excellency the President",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 168,
        "legal_name": "Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta",
        "slug": "uhuru-kenyatta"
    },
    "content": "choices were not made. According to these experts, a series of irreducible minimums had to be met before considering softer health protocols. Indeed, after much reflection we opted for the public health argument over the economic argument. Our rationale was that we can always revive an ailing economy, but we cannot bring to life those who die from the pandemic. With this logic informing our choices, we set out to build the irreducible minimums recommended by the experts to forestall a COVID-19 disaster. Although the health argument won, we did not dismiss the economic argument in total. We made fiscal choices to cushion the economy through a number of economic stimuli. Today I am happy to go on record in this august House as having succeeded in the choices that my Administration made. Because of our fiscal stimuli, today I can report that the impact of COVID-19 on our economy was 14 times lesser than that on the global economy. As part of the first stimulus package, we announced interventions that warranted the national exchequer to forgo taxes amounting to Kshs176 billion. These tax measures included- (i) The immediate reduction of Value Added tax (VAT) from 16 per cent to 14 per cent; (ii) A 100 per cent Tax Relief for all persons earning up to Ksh24, 000; (iii) Reduction of Pay as You Earn (PAYE) from 30 per cent to 25 per cent; (iv) Reduction of Corporation Tax from 30 per cent to 25 per cent; (v) We also caused the lowering of the Central Bank Rate (CBR) to 7.25 per cent from 8.25 per cent so as to prompt commercial banks to lower interest rates applicable to their borrowers and thereby avail much needed affordable credit to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) across the Country; (vi) We lowered the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) to 4.25 per cent from 5.25 per cent so as to provide additional liquidity of Kshs35 billion to commercial banks in order to directly support borrowers who were distressed as a result of the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic; (vii) The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) also provided flexibility to banks with regard to the requirements applicable to loan classification and provision of loans that were performing as of 2nd March, 2020; (viii) We further engaged banks and all financial institutions to support all enterprises and families that sought to restructure their commercial banking through debt moratoriums and review of tenure of those facilities; (ix) There was a temporary suspension of the listing with the Credit Reference Bureaus (CRB) of any person, MSMEs and corporate entities whose loans account had fallen overdue or were in arrears; (x) The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) was directed to expedite the payment of all verified VAT refund claims amounting to Kshs10 billion or in the alternative allow for the offsetting of withholding VAT in order to improve cash flows for businesses; and, (xi) The Kshs6 billion from the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) kitty was immediately appropriated strictly towards supporting counties in the recruitment of additional health workers to support in the management of the spread of COVID-19. We subsequently rolled out the second stimulus package with the support of this House, whose tenet was an eight-point economic stimulus programme amounting to Kshs56.6 billion. The first element of the eight-point programme focused on the “Buy Kenya Build Kenya” Policy."
}