MBADI struggles to explain why he has not helped RUTO reduce the high cost of living despite promising to do magic


Sunday, December 1, 2024 - Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has admitted that the cost of living is still too high for ordinary Kenyans.

In a statement, Mbadi outlined high interest rates, low liquidity, and the government’s failure to clear pending bills as the key factors contributing to the high cost of living. 

This comes barely a month after an Infotrack survey indicated that 73 per cent of Kenyans are either in severe financial distress or struggling to make ends meet, pointing to the urgent need to correct the country’s economic situation before things go further south.

Mbadi asserted that the high cost of living has largely affected middle-class Kenyans.

According to Mbadi, at the moment, Kenyans do not have a lot of disposable income and this can be attributed to the increase in taxes last year.

Mbadi argued that the taxes introduced by the Finance Bill 2023, which among other things introduced new employment income tax bands, introducing 32.5 per cent and 35 per cent PAYE rates for high-income earners, is one of the policies taking money from Kenyans.

The CS noted that the second factor affecting the high cost of living is the high interest rates. This is despite the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) lowering the lending rate to 12 per cent in October.

High interest rates make it difficult for SMEs as well as ordinary Kenyans to access loans, thus hindering investments and business expansions. This in turn reduces the liquidity in the market.

The Kenyan DAILY POST

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