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{
    "id": 507012,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/507012/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 365,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Lati",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2762,
        "legal_name": "Jonathan Lelelit Lati",
        "slug": "jonathan-lelelit-lati"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. The other thing I wanted to consider in this amendment is the recent happening in our country where we went ahead and borrowed some money through a Sovereign Bond outside our nation. If you remember, during that time the interest rate was around 6 per cent. If those people who cannot access those Treasury Bills and Treasury Bonds, which is the other way the Government borrows, were to access this market, the best thing that we can see is the lowering of interest rates. The Government can actually borrow locally with a lower interest rate than what we even got outside with the Sovereign Bond. There would be a huge impact on the interest rates of this country if those monies were allowed to flow into the Treasury Bills and Treasury Bonds. The Government also benefits because with the understanding of the inverse relationship between bond pricing and interest rates, the Government will be a double beneficiary by getting bonds that are priced highly and at the same time getting at a lower interest rate. The other thing I looked at this amendment that is really important is the comparative analysis of what we do in terms of denominations for our Treasury Bills and Treasury Bonds, vis-a-vis the other countries in the region. We always have to look at this because we live in a competitive market. If Tanzania, for instance, is denominating Treasury Bills at Kshs26, Rwanda at Kshs13,000 and Uganda at Kshs3,000 and ours at Kshs100,000- It is only the long term bonds we denominate at Kshs.50,000 - we need to be in tune with the rest of the countries in the region so that we become competitive in terms of borrowing as a country. The other thing that hon. Kabando wa Kabando has done very well here, is trying to fill a void since there is no regulation or law that exists today in our country that fills this gap to allow the lowest of income earners to get into this very important market that I said is a risk-free market. I think hon. Kabando wa Kabando was even too generous to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) because he opened up that discretion so that the CBK has the discretion to do the minimum denomination of those Treasury Bills and Treasury Bonds. I would have asked him to even go further and not to leave that window for the CBK to decide so that we have the minimum and there are different ways that you can arrive at that minimum denomination. The starting point should be the comparative 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."
}