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{
    "id": 1261809,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1261809/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 162,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Hon. Speaker, bilateral and multilateral loans come with cheaper rates. The most expensive rate we are getting today is about 2.5 per cent from the Exim Bank of China. These loans are for a period of between 30 years and 40 years as opposed to Eurobond loans, which run for 10 years. The Eurobond loan that we are retiring next year was acquired at 6.8 per cent in 2014. Last year, during the election time, because of our high-risk profile, the spread of this Eurobond loan was at a rate of between 14 per cent and 18 per cent. The highest rate was at 21 per cent. This means if that Eurobond was to be recalled then, we would pay it at 21 per cent interest. After the elections, and with the stabilisation of the economy, that spread has come down to 12 per cent. However, 12 per cent is still very high for a middle-income country, and for a growing economy like ours. The rate of 6.8 per cent is still high. That is why the National Treasury advised on more concessional loans, which attract an interest of about 2.5 per cent. Some of them attract as low interest as 1 per cent, 1.5 per cent or 2 per cent. The President has spoken about these concessional, multilateral and bilateral loans because African countries are getting these loans at a higher rate. Whereas African countries access these loans at 2.5 per cent, economies in the West, like the United States, get them at 0.1 per cent interest rate. Other countries in Europe get the same loans at between 0.5 per cent and 0.1 per cent interest rate. I will not belabour the issue of liability management because the Committee has highlighted it in detail. Hon. Speaker, on the issue of fiscal consolidation, as a House, we have a duty to follow up this matter with the National Treasury. I am happy that part of the recommendations that the Committee has proposed to bring during the Committee of the whole House will touch on issues that people were not happy with even during public participation. For example, The Institute for Social Accountability (TISA) presented on the particular clause that sought to take over the work of Parliament - our constitutional mandate to oversee the national Government and the National Treasury. The Committee agreed with this one. During public participation, the concerns of many of us who did not want to relinquish our oversight responsibility to people who are not elected by the people of Kenya were looked at. Allow me to end at this point and request Hon. (Dr) Makali Mulu, who is the Vice- Chairperson of this Committee, to second. He put in a lot of work and long hours in this Report. They even worked on a weekend to put this Report together for tabling and adoption by the House. I also urge the House to support this Bill because it will go a long way in helping our country to measure our debts and our debt repayment capacity. We need to know how sustainable our debt is. Those of us who have managed corporate bodies, we always get signals of whether we are moving towards the redline. This Bill seeks to alert us and the country when 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."
}