Shillings don’t pay dollar loans, David Ndii roasts Sifuna
Chair of Presidential Council of Economic Advisors David Ndii has taken on Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna over the government’s taxation and loan repayment regime.
The senator referred to the World Bank’s plan to loan the Kenyan government $12 billion (Sh1.8 trillion) over the next three years.
“So subject to World Bank Executive Directors approval of new operations, and to factors which may affect the bank’s lending capacity this implies a total financing package of $12 billion over the next three years,” the lender said in a press release on Monday.
But Sifuna faulted the move saying it goes against the Kenya Kwanza government’s pledge to cut down on external borrowing to bring the country’s debt obligation to manageable levels.
“They are saying the high taxation is necessary to repay loans Uhuru took. You would expect them not to be doing the same thing they claim got us into this mess,” Sifuna said.
Ndii, however, differed with the legislator and reminded him that loans are not paid using local currency.
“Shillings don’t pay dollar loans. But then, you are a lawyer,” he said in a statement on his X handle.
Kenya’s current debt stands at Sh10.5 trillion, much of which the William Ruto regime has said was borrowed by former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee administration in which Ruto served as Deputy President.
Ruto, his deputy Rigathi Gachagua, and Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen have been steadfast in using this line with the CS laying the blame for a leaking roof at JKIA on the former regime.
While speaking on Sunday in Bomet County, the President reemphasized that the economy is in the sorry state it finds itself owing to excessive borrowing of the previous regime.
“This country was headed to a place where we would be overburdened by debt to a point where we would be taken where those who cannot pay their debts go to…I will not be the President who will take Kenya there,” he said.
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In his response to the envisioned World Bank loan, Sifuna said one would expect Ruto to earn from his predecessor he says got it wrong by walking the talk and stopping more borrowing.
“You would be wrong. Of course, they said they would stop borrowing. Of course, they lied,” he said.
Data from the National Treasury showed that Ruto’s regime borrowed Sh1.2 trillion in the first eight months ending July, far more than the Sh437 billion Uhuru borrowed in the first 12 months.
Uhuru borrowed an estimated Sh874.5 billion between 2013 and 2015 while Ruto borrowed Sh419.46 billion from the domestic market and Sh716.92 billion foreign debt since September 2022.
Should World Bank Executive Directors approve the Sh1.8 trillion loan, it will add up to the Sh141.4 billion new loan the International Monetary Fund(IMF) approved in mid-May and another Sh87.73 billion Kenya borrowed in December 2022.
Kenya secured another syndicated Sh70.55 billion loan in July with Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) data indicating that the government borrowed Sh137.48 billion between September and November 2022.
Shillings don’t pay dollar loans, David Ndii roasts Sifuna