Author: David Indeje

Kenya’s National Treasury has cut this year’s fiscal spending budget by Ksh 55.1 billion from  June 2017 aimed at reducing the overall fiscal deficit and debt accumulation. “The government is pursuing a fiscal consolidation policy that is aimed at reducing the overall fiscal deficit and debt accumulation,” Henry Rotich says, adding that the expected outcome is a reduction of overall expenditure and net lending from 26.3 per cent in the fiscal year 2018/19 to an average of 23.2 per cent in the medium term. However, economists have been wary of such. “The much-needed restoration of the country’s fiscal space may…

The International Monetary Firm and the World Bank “are extremely excited by the emerging crisis” within Kenya after the country’s  $1.5 Billion Stand-By Arrangement with the IMF came to an end on Friday. “The program has ended. We will continue engaging the fund going forward” Kenya’s Finance Minister Henry Rotich was quoted by Reuters. “We continue to build our reserves. We did not draw down on the IMF programme. It definitely says Kenya has come of age about reliance on IMF programmes, but we will continue to engage on new facilities or arrangement that suits Kenya going forward,” he said.…

The Central Bank of Kenya has fined five big banks Ksh 392.5 million for transacting illegally with the National Youth Service (NYS). “CBK announces the conclusion of the first phase of the investigation of the banks that were used by these persons in transacting the NYS funds. The investigations prioritised banks that handled the largest flows, namely; Standard Chartered Bank Kenya Ltd, Equity Bank Kenya Ltd, KCB Bank Kenya Ltd, Co-operative Bank of Kenya Ltd, and Diamond Trust Bank Kenya Ltd,” said the regulator said in a statement issued on Tuesday. “The actions taken by CBK and subsequently by other…

As African and global leaders meet in Kigali, Rwanda for the 8th African Green Revolution Forum, there is renewed pressure for the continent to deliver reforms around access to land and markets, extension services, and private sector investments in order to unlock its agricultural potential. In 2016, the report indicated that Africa’s agriculture sector loses about $4 billion to post-harvest losses yearly and as a result, its annual import bill is $35 billion and projected to $100 billion by 2030. “Agriculture is key to Africa’s future. The continent has most of the world’s arable land, over half of the African…

Opportunity in Kenya’s retail sector is within the county headquarters according to a report published by Cytonn Real Estate. The demand is being driven by devolution and the increased retail business to serve the increasing urban population. For instance, in Kisumu and Mt. Kenya regions, the retail space demand of 0.3mn and 0.2mn SQFT has attractive yields at 8.3 per cent and 9.9 per cent and occupancy rates at 96.3 per cent and 84.5 per cent, respectively. This is, compared to the market average rental yield of 8.6 per cent and occupancy rates of 86.0 per cent. However, the Nakuru…

Africa’s growth potential is positive, with a projected economic growth of 3.1 per cent in 2018 and 3.7 per cent by 2020, according to the World Bank. This has been attributed to rising commodity prices. This is compared to an expected rate of 3.4 per cent in the gross domestic product compared to 2.8 per cent in 2017 in the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Regional Economic Outlook report for the Sub-Saharan Region. In fact, foreign direct investment in Africa has been on the rise, despite a 21 percent decline from 2016, according to UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2018.  However, this…