Senators overwhelmingly approve raising debt ceiling to Ksh.10 trillion
Senators have overwhelmingly voted in support
of raising the country’s debt ceiling from the current Ksh.9 trillion to Ksh.10
trillion.
27 Senators
voted to approve the motion on Tuesday afternoon against just three opposing
votes, while none of the legislators abstained from taking the vote.
The decision
by the Senate now rubber stamps Ksh.10 trillion as the new debt ceiling for the
country after Members of Parliament (MPs) supported the motion on June 7.
The majority
support on Tuesday was nevertheless against the backdrop of opposing views from
some members which saw the moving of the motion delayed for more than a week.
This as the
movers of the motion lobbied for support to lift the ceiling by taming
dissenting views.
During the
debate of the motion last Tuesday, the Chairperson of the Senate’s Delegated
Legislation Committee Mwinyi Haji Mohamed said the lifting of the ceiling has
been occasioned by unforeseen hits to the government fiscus plan including the
Russia-Ukraine war.
“The
National Treasury committed in 2019 that the debt ceiling of Ksh.9 trillion
will be enough until 2024. However a number of unfavourable events have taken
place that have led to the depression of the ceiling,” he said.
While
seconding the motion, Narok Senator Ledama Ole Kina said the lifting of the
ceiling would allow the government to execute the 2022/23 budget with the
fiscal year set to start on July 1.
“The
increase in the debt ceiling allows the government to accommodate the 2022/23
budget. The economy continues to face shocks including a weaker shilling,
rising global commodity prices which do not just affect Kenya but the world at
large,” he said.
The motion
to raise the debt ceiling nevertheless faced opposition at the onset with
Nominated Senator Isaac Mwaura lamenting constant shifts to the debt ceiling.
“In the big
picture, it means within a record nine years we have increased our public debt
by a whole Ksh.7 trillion, this is not acceptable. Sooner or later, we will
still have to increase the debt ceiling and it means that we are living above
our means,” he stated.
The wider
debt ceiling is expected to accommodate the 2022/23 fiscal deficit estimated at
Ksh.846 billion.
However,
estimates contained in the 2022 Budget Policy Statement (BPS) show the new
ceiling will be breached before June of 2024 setting off yet another debt
ceiling review.
Earlier, the
National Treasury had proposed to change the debt ceiling from Ksh.9 trillion
to 55 per cent of debt as a share of GDP at present value.
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