The Launch of the Kenya Economic Report 2023
The National Treasury and Economic Planning Cabinet Secretary, Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u officially launched the Kenya Economic Report 2023, on 28/9/2023. at a Nairobi Hotel.
This year’s Report is themed: ”COST OF LIVING AND THE ROLE OF MARKETS.”
In his speech, Prof. Ndung’u reiterated that this was the 15th edition of the Kenya Economic Report launch.
He noted with appreciation that since commencement of production of the Economic Report, the State Department for Economic Planning through KIPPRA has continuously maintained the tempo in guiding the government on policy and national development planning.
He added that policymakers are seeking evidence based policy options to guide policy decisions to address the high cost of living for Kenyans.
“The government Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda(BETA) is geared towards realising an economic turnaround and achieving exclusive growth,” the Cabinet Secretary said.
The reason for choosing BETA is because the current administration is concerned about the problems that have led many Kenyans at the bottom of the pyramid to sink further into abject misery and poverty.
Prof. Ndung’u pointed out that one of the major causes that increased poverty in the country was market capture. Those at the bottom of the pyramid do not get returns for their sweat and investments.
In order to solve this problem, Economic Transformation was important because it would help invest in education, health, nutrition and labour markets to boost human capital development.
Additionally, markets have a role in providing a platform for investment and ignite production and productivity.
The reasons for the high cost of living are as follows; shocks from the Covid-19 pandemic, drought and supply disruptions from Russia-Ukraine war and massive government spending above the revenue collected.
The government has rolled out the County Aggregation Industrial Parks(CAIPS) aimed to strengthen agricultural value chains to encourage aggregation for value addition in dairy products, edible oils, leather, cotton, building materials and natural resources.
Apart from this development, the government launched the Financial Inclusion Fund (Hustler Fund) on 30th November, 2022 to promote accesss to affordable credit while co-currently encouraging savings.
”A skilled labour force is a key priority to enhance production to accelerate socio-economic transformation,” he said.
While concluding the event, the CS emphasized that in order to effectively address the high cost of living, it requires enhancing productivity and implementing market enabled long term solutions and ensure that citizens generate income and adopts policies that encourage the culture of increasing savings.
In attendance were; Mr. James Muhati, Principal Secretary for Economic Planning, Dr. Benson Ateng’,KIPPRA Board Chairperson, Dr. Rose Ngugi, Executive Director of KIPPRA among other invited guests.
