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{
    "id": 273001,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/273001/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 347,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Oyongo Nyamweya",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Trade",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 391,
        "legal_name": "Manson Oyongo Nyamweya",
        "slug": "manson-nyamweya"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, yes, it is not the original Motion which I had contributed to. So, I want to say that we have talked much about interest rates in this House, but the biggest issue we have is the monetary policies of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the fiscal policies of the Ministry of Finance. If they are properly handled; if the monetary policy takes place effectively without doing management functions in the market as they did last year, we will not experience high interest rates. So, it is upon us in this House to know that the biggest problem we have when interest rates go up; when banks start charging us high interest rates, it is because the monetary policy of this nation - through the Governor of CBK - has failed to regulate the monetary policies. What happened last year? I see that banks have made a lot of money this time. I have seen the results of Standard Chartered Bank. They have stated that they have made a lot of monies from forex. Clearly, they made money through forex when the Kenya Shilling depreciated. In this case, CBK takes the blame and responsibility. But for Standard Chartered Bank which has made the money and has declared it today in their books, it is obviously a lopsided policy by the Government which allowed a few banks and individuals to make money. The main purpose of the banking sector is not to make money. It is to stimulate economic growth. It is to create an enabling environment for the people and industries to do business; for people who are manufacturing to expand their factories; for people in transport to increase their business. That is done by lending out money. However, the people who get the money must be able to make some profit. Can they make profit at the interest rates the banks are charging today? The answer is no! The interest rates are very high; they are punitive and, therefore, when we say that the interest rates should be regulated, it is because of the high interest rates the banks are charging. If the economic and fiscal policies are wrong, the banks will always increase their interest rates. So, it is upon the Ministry of Finance to take care and come up with good policies. It is upon the Governor of the CBK to come up with better monetary policies so that interest rates charged by banks can come down. Unless that is done by the Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the committee, we will always have a problem in this country. We will always have high interest rates which will not help this nation to move forward."
}