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{
    "id": 1275929,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1275929/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 453,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Ali Roba",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I beg to reply. I have listened to contributions from my colleagues on various issues. They have raised some issues of critical concern to them relating to amendments proposed in this Bill. One of the amendments they are concerned with is the issue of reporting about the public debt. Is it only going to be to the National Assembly or both Houses? That is one of our amendments; that it should be to Parliament, meaning both Houses. On the issue of prudence, is this amendment proposed going to give the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury the freewill to borrow as he sees fit? The answer to that question is that when our current debt ceiling is translated to percentage of the current GDP, it stands at 64.1 per cent. What the amendment proposed in this Bill is much more restrictive than where we are currently. The Bill goes further to give the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury five years to comply to bring down the public debt to within 55 per cent of the GDP. By 2027, they should have brought it down from 64.1 per cent to 55 per cent. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we have engaged in public participation extensively with the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Economic Planning. The Senator of Narok County, Sen. Olekina, we have engaged very extensively as to how the Cabinet Secretary and the National Treasury intends to do that. This is because, the object of the Bill is to be able to manage public debt ceiling. Arbitrarily in the past, it was a request and then we give an absolute number based on nothing. This is what has been happening. We have been saying, for example, Kshs10 trillion or Kshs9 trillion. Based on that trajectory, National Treasury would come and requested Kshs12 trillion as an absolute ceiling. What would that be based on? It must be based on some scientific data that is able to put a self-restrictive limitation, where borrowing is limited within 55 per cent of the GDP. When the performance of the economy grows, then the borrowing window expands. If the performance reduces, the borrowing window reduces because it is a percentage of the GDP. When we engaged the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Economic Planning on how he plans to bring it down from 64.1 per cent. What is contained in Budget Policy Statement has been very consistent. The Cabinet Secretary has proposed that by the end of the FY2023/2024, he intends to bring it down from 64.1 per cent to 61.8 per cent, then, by the end of FY2024/2025, further down from 61.8 per cent to 60.1 per cent. In FY2025/2026, further down to 58.2 per cent and finally by 2027, which is the window given, to bring it down to 55 per cent of the GDP. The onus is upon the Cabinet"
}