Musalia Mudavadi

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 111 to 120 of 1008.

• 26 Apr 2023 in National Assembly: Hon. Speaker, let me now address the aspect of reducing the cost of fuel. The Government has done the following: First, the Government has lifted the moratorium on power purchase agreements as a way of enhancing the country’s energy security by opening up the energy sector to continued investments and leveraging on the market forces of demand and supply. However, the price benefits will not be immediate due to other exogenous factors. view
• 26 Apr 2023 in National Assembly: Secondly, prior to April 2023, the Government imported all its petroleum product requirements through the open tendering system. The monthly requirement— this is very useful for the Members— is approximately 740,000 metric tonnes of fuel. This translates to about USD70 million per month. All these petroleum products imports were paid for in United States of America (USA) Dollars which put a strain on the Government’s FOREX reserves and caused a huge deficiency in availability of USD causing depreciation of the Kenya Shilling. The USD requirements by oil marketing companies account for about 30 per cent of Kenya’s total USD requirements. ... view
• 26 Apr 2023 in National Assembly: Under the foregoing terms, the G2G arrangement is under implementation and the first cargoes— MT Front Capella delivering 80,000 metric tonnes of Jet A-1 fuel and MT Norddolphin delivering 85,000 metric tonnes of petrol—were received at the Port of Mombasa on Thursday, 13th April 2023. Other cargoes have been scheduled and are expected in the country. Having received the first consignment, the positive effects of this arrangement should start being felt in the near term. This intervention is also expected to reduce pressure on our foreign exchange and lower the cost of petroleum. view
• 26 Apr 2023 in National Assembly: Let me also focus on reducing the cost of cooking gas. We have moved swiftly to end the monopoly in the sourcing and supply of cooking gas which inevitably results in price inflation. The Government has opened up this sector by reviewing the policy to allow for competition by setting stage for additional players to be licensed to set up Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) facilities. This will cut the cost of handling and evacuating gas from the ships to the mainland. Hence, it will allow the dealers to transfer the cost reliefs to the consumer. view
• 26 Apr 2023 in National Assembly: Let me touch on how we are addressing the depreciation of the Kenya Shilling against other currencies. The Government is implementing sound exchange rate policies to stabilise the local currency and manage the foreign exchange reserves in an effort to mitigate the impact of currency fluctuations. As I noted earlier in my statement, in response to the question, the official foreign exchange reserves have declined from USD7.9 million which is equivalent to 4.4 months of import cover as at December 2022 to USD7.1 million which is equivalent to four months of import cover as at February 2023. The usable foreign ... view
• 26 Apr 2023 in National Assembly: Let me now highlight some of the immediate steps that the Government is taking to stabilise the economy and set the country on a growth trajectory. They are several but I will just try and pick out a few. As the House will appreciate, the measures to cushion Kenyans from the high cost of living, as well as reduce the cost of basic commodities as I have enumerated above, will invariably also result in a stabilised economy. I will, therefore, take this opportunity to highlight other measures aimed at stabilising the economy. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report ... view
• 26 Apr 2023 in National Assembly: Firstly, the Government remains committed to programmes jointly formulated with its development partners through which we anticipate to get much needed Budget support. I believe when the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Economic Planning will speak to Parliament in a few weeks’ time, he will elaborate this. We will continue bolstering economic resilience by pursuing prudent micro-economic policies geared at reducing debt vulnerabilities and supporting sustainable and inclusive development. view
• 26 Apr 2023 in National Assembly: Through the fiscal consolidation programme, we aim to continue with our revenue mobilisation and expenditure prioritisation policies geared towards economic recovery. This will support sustained, rapid and inclusive economic growth and safeguard livelihoods, thus creating a fiscal space for the implementation of Government priority programmes. With inflation remaining above the target band, our monetary policy will remain focused on maintaining price stability by resisting the pass-through of second round effects from higher food and fuel prices to other prices and keeping inflationary pressures well anchored. view
• 26 Apr 2023 in National Assembly: Over the medium-term, inflation is expected to return to the midpoint of 5 per cent of our target band which is 2.5-7.5 per cent. The Central Bank of Kenya on its part has proactively tightened its monetary policy stands to prevent second round effects and keep inflation expectations anchored. The CBK rate was raised to 9.5 per cent in March 2023. This is expected to gradually reduce inflation in the coming months. The exchange rate flexibility has worked as a shock absorber in the face of variety of external shocks and will continue to do so to help support our ... view
• 26 Apr 2023 in National Assembly: Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I will respond not necessarily in any specific order. First of all, I want to mention that some of the immediate steps the Government has taken to try and deal with the crisis is waiver of duty on some of the food products that are coming in during this period that we are going through. The records we have are that in this process of waiver, the Government has waived close to Ksh10 billion worth of food that is coming in. What is critical is that we have a record – although I may not have ... view