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{
    "id": 1355144,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1355144/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 278,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kiharu, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Ndindi Nyoro",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "increment in the payments of interest rates. One would ask: Why are we doing it now and we just did our Budget in the month of June? The reason is that from the month of June to date, we have had two main issues happening around interest rates. One is the interest rate itself, which is the cost of money. We have had to raise our interest rates at home so that we make Kenya attractive for capital inflows. This is a contractionary measure that we are doing as an economy. Interest rates domestically and globally have been rising and, therefore, the cost of our debts has been rising and so, we needed to provide monies for the payment of those interest rates. The second front is forex. Our debt one year ago was 50-50; 50 per cent domestic and 50 per cent foreign. In a debt situation of Ksh10 trillion, it therefore means our foreign debt was around Ksh5 trillion and actually to quote precisely, it was Ksh4.3 trillion in terms of our domestic debt. Out of this foreign debt, majority of it is dollar denominated. But the Kenya Shilling has lost around 20 per cent from January to date and from June to now, we have been subdued. Therefore, we are providing monies so that we are able to pay our obligations timely. The reason is that the Government finds itself using Kenya Shilling but in terms of the payment of international or foreign obligations, we use domestic currencies and that is where there is a loss and, therefore, our country will be spending an extra Ksh145 billion as an increase in cost of our debts when it comes to repayment of our interest rates alone. (ii) Some of the increments that we have made in this Budget first are on education. We have put in Ksh20 billion into the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) out of the policies that we have passed in this House; policies around National Industrial Training Authority, the new National Social Fund and the previous National Hospital Insurance Fund. On the issues around National Security Social Fund, we needed to provide the TSC with money, being the largest employer in Kenya, for their portion as an employer to cater for those statutory requirements. Secondly, and I want Members to be keen on this, we have also provided around Ksh5.4 billion for bridging the gap of the deficit of the JSS funding in terms of capitation. In this Budget, we have provided that money. We have also provided monies for the new funding model of tertiary education. We have put in over Ksh4 billion into giving scholarships and loans to technical and vocational education trainings students. On the other side of universities, we have provided enough resources for the intake that is currently on course and the next intake. We have also provided Ksh3.4 billion monies for the infrastructure of JSS institutions. We have also recalibrated so that those monies shall no longer be going to the Ministry of Education. All monies will be going to the National Government-Constituency Development Fund because the patrons, the Members of this House, have shown that they are the best managers when it comes to the execution of public facilities. We have provided Ksh8.52 billion that will be going into the post-harvest management and also to purchase fertiliser for the next season and, therefore, when it comes to the inputs of our agricultural sector, we have taken care of that. We have provided money for the sugar sector reforms and some of those monies will be going to payment of arrears owed to sugar- cane farmers so that we can continue releasing more resources to our economy. There is a lot more that we have done in the Supplementary Estimates and I will call upon Members to also go through the reports so that we can participate. We have given monies to the National Cereals and Produce Board for the purchase of maize so that the sweat of our farmers will not go down the drain. We have also provided money for Coffee Cherry Fund so that our coffee farmers can have a facility to take forward the agriculture sector and, especially, when it comes to cash crops. On the policy front, we have a lot of improvement in the National Treasury and Economic Planning in so far as invoking Article 223 is concerned. This time, we are only approving less than Ksh2 billion monies spent under Article 223. The bulk of it is going into post-harvest management. 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."
}