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{
    "id": 1382332,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1382332/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 218,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kirinyaga County, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Njeri Maina",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I rise to support the Report by the Committee. This House owes a fiduciary duty to electorates. It is therefore important to examine our Medium-Term Debt Management Strategy to ensure that any monies are applied accordingly. The ideal situation is that the net external borrowing does not exceed 55 per cent and the domestic borrowing does not exceed 45 per cent of the GDP. We must, therefore, examine key priority areas that need funding by this House. We must also continue to ensure there is continuity in Government projects. Cutting down recurrent expenditure is also something that we should consider. The fiscal policy that we have must reflect the financial constraints of this nation. That is what I call walking the talk. Since the Kenya Kwanza Government took office, it has borrowed less. I want to disabuse the notion that it has borrowed more as the Kenya Kwanza Government. I refer to my good colleague and friend, Hon. Ndindi Nyoro, that when the shilling depreciates, the value of our debt increases too. Around 70 per cent of our debt is in US dollars. That is the net effect we see in the increase of our debt. It is not about the debt; it is about whether the debt is sustainable. Countries like the United States of America have debts over 128 per cent of their GDP. As of 2023, the US had more than US$32 trillion debt. The question that we must continuously examine is whether we have a sustainable debt and whether we can manage the same for posterity. The G7 nations like Canada, Germany and the rest have net debts of around 128 per cent. We must continuously engage in this conversation to ensure that we examine policies that do not denigrate our development agenda but ensure that, for posterity, we sustain the same and can pay our debt. Thank you."
}