Sunday, February 19, 2023 – Despite riding on the platform of not borrowing in the runup to the last year’s election, it has emerged that President William Ruto has an insatiable appetite for loans.
This was revealed by his Economic Advisors Chair, David Ndii, who said that Ruto’s government borrows Sh25 billion every Thursday.
Speaking during an interview, Ndii said part of the money is used to power government expenditure by lending to Kenyans at a rate of eight (8) per cent.
“The government has the capacity to go to the market and borrow from banks at a rate of eight per cent but the bank will not lend to the poor people,” said Ndii.
Ndii said a similar model is applied to the Hustler Fund where the government borrows from banks and lends to Kenyans at the same interest rate of 8 per cent that the bank charges the government.
He said the borrowing cost is passed on to Kenyans.
“We pass at exactly the same cost the government is borrowing at for the Hustler Fund” he added.
Hustler Fund is part of President William Ruto’s campaign promises to Kenyans launched in November 2022.
Its objective is to help entrepreneurial individuals unlock their doors to investments.
Former President Uhuru Kenyatta used to borrow approximately Sh3 billion daily to sustain the operations of the government.
0 Comments