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{
    "id": 1156032,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1156032/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 147,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Amb. Ukur Yatani",
    "speaker_title": "The Cabinet Secretary, National Treasury and Planning",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The Government’s commitment to empowering SMEs owned by women, youth and persons with disabilities under the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) programme remains firmly on course. In this respect, the National Treasury has re-engineered the AGPO portal to enable real-time registration and monitoring. The system has further been linked to other Government institutions to facilitate faster verification and reporting. We have undertaken a comprehensive assessment of vulnerabilities in state-owned enterprises. In particular, the in-depth financial evaluations of selected state-owned enterprises excluding the Kenya Airways that face the largest financial and fiscal risks revealed a cumulative liquidity gap of Kshs383.0 billion over the next five years. This gap is expected to be covered by undertaking specific policy interventions to improve efficiencies, reduce costs and increase revenue. In order to enhance the operational and financial efficiency of state-owned enterprises we shall: first, implement the blue print on governance reforms on enforcement and separation of roles and responsibilities among institutions that exercise oversight; second, fast-track the implementation of Government Investment Management Information System (GIMIS) and capture, among others, all loans advanced to the enterprises; third, extend the coverage of financial evaluations to other State Owned Enterprises to be able to anticipate, quantify, monitor, manage and mitigate fiscal risks from the State Corporations. Kenya Airways plays a major and catalytic role in the economic development of this country. The airline is facing severe cash-flow constraints following global lockdowns triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government as a major shareholder is supporting the restructuring of Kenya Airways to adapt to the challenges facing the aviation industry due to the adverse impact of COVID-19 pandemic. Kenya Airways will be required to trim its network, rationalise frequencies of flights, operate a smaller fleet, and rationalize its staff complement. I will be proposing a budget allocation to meet the restructuring costs. The Government will continue to support Kenya Power and Lighting Company to increase its efficiency while sustaining systematic reduction in tariff to electricity users. The recent 15 per cent tariff reduction by the Government has not only brought immediate relief to the consumers, but also led to realisation of broad benefits including reductions of prices of goods by manufacturers. The Kenyan banking sector is stable and has shown great resilience with strong capital and liquidity buffers built on reforms initiated by the Central Bank of Kenya. A clear demonstration of resilience and recovery of the banking sector from the adverse effects of COVID-19 Pandemic was strong capital adequacy and liquidity ratios. As at end of December 2021, capital adequacy ratio was 19.6 per cent which was above the minimum requirement of 14.5 per cent while liquidity ratio was 56.2 per cent, which is also above the 20 per cent requirement. The sector has continued with its transformation journey under the Kenya Banking Sector Charter issued in 2019 by the Central Bank of Kenya. The Charter focuses on strengthening risk-based credit pricing, entrenching customer centricity in their operations and ensuring ethical culture in banks. In addition, the CBK (Amendment) Act 2021 was enacted to provide the Central Bank with powers to license and oversight the previously unregulated digital credit providers. Hon. Speaker, commercial banks face climate related risks in their operations. In this regard, the CBK issued a detailed guidance on climate-related risk management to all commercial banks in October 2021. The banks are now required to integrate climate-related risks into their overall risk management frameworks. The FinAccess Survey 2021 conducted in the 47 Counties revealed that access to formal financial services improved from 82.9 per cent in 2019 to 83.7 per cent in 2021. The increase of The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}