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{
    "id": 293451,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/293451/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 110,
    "type": "other",
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    "content": "7. Introduced the Women Enterprise Development Fund and the Youth Enterprise Development Fund; Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Fund and Agri-Business Fund to provide affordable credit accessible to women, the youth and other small business enterprises and expand employment. 8. Revived and expanded irrigation projects throughout the Arid and Semi-Arid Land (ASAL) areas to secure food security. Mr. Speaker, Sir, with the foundation firmly laid and supported by a new constitutional dispensation providing for a devolved system of government, the President has given us the challenge to sustain the Vision of our country of attaining a higher income status by the year 2030. Going forward, we should strive to build on this legacy to transform and modernize our nation, create jobs for our people and significantly reduce poverty. In this context, therefore, I have chosen the theme of this year’s Budget as “Deepening our Economic and Social Prosperity within a System of Devolved Government”. We have, without any doubt, achieved much progress but the journey has just begun. There are challenges that lie ahead, which we must work together to deal with, both at the domestic and global levels. We continue to face exogenous shocks associated with climate change and volatility in the international oil and other commodity prices and worse still the global economic outlook, in the mid-term, is expected to remain fragile. We must rise to the challenge and courageously confront them – and we must confront them with bold and pragmatic policies. Mr. Speaker, Sir, through this Budget Statement, we are responding to these challenges by implementing a number of economic policies and structural reform measures. Firstly, we are strengthening our financial systems by implementing further legislative and institutional reforms to keep the global crisis and uncertainty at bay. Secondly, we are scaling up infrastructural investment as the building blocks needed to achieve a more lasting and stable growth. Thirdly, we are making growth and development more inclusive and equitable across counties by investing in our people. We are also renewing our commitment to progressively deliver on the constitutionally mandated economic and social rights, including measures to ensure food security and protection of the vulnerable members of our society. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we acknowledge that accelerating and sustaining inclusive and equitable growth for prosperity require tough choices, hard work and determination by all Kenyans. It goes beyond not just identifying hurdles to progress and proposing solutions, but also rolling up our sleeves and working together across the political divide to make painful decisions and implement sensible economic reforms. As Kenyans, we all shoulder the responsibility of building a better and prosperous Kenya in order to achieve a common future for all that we desire. Through this Budget, we recognise that for us to engage the youth in gainful employment and put up a meaningful dent on poverty, we have to grow our economy uninterruptedly for many years, and it has to be inclusive growth. To do this, we have to continue investing in infrastructure, provide quality education and healthcare; deepen reforms in the public service to enhance efficiency and effectiveness; improve competitiveness by removing regulatory burdens on small businesses, and deepen regional integration."
}