NAIROBI, Kenya
Kenya's President, William Ruto said Thursday that his government was ready to privatize 35 state companies "trapped in government bureaucracy" in a bid to boost productivity following a change to laws.
Last month, Ruto’s government
signed a revised privatization bill into law that makes it easier to sell state
enterprises to private companies.
The revised law aims to push
up the private sector's participation in the economy, the presidency said at
the time of the signing.
"We have identified the
first 35 companies that we are going to offer to the private sector," Ruto
told a gathering of African stock market officials in Nairobi.
He added that the government
was also exploring options regarding some 100 state-owned firms, saying that
many "would-be lucrative companies... are trapped in government
bureaucracy, when the services they are offering can be better offered by the private
sector."
"We will make this
opportunity available."
East Africa's economic
powerhouse is facing a host of challenges, including depleted government
coffers, skyrocketing inflation and a plunging currency that has led to soaring
debt repayment costs.
The International Monetary
Fund, IMF, said this month that it had agreed to a $938-million loan for Kenya,
which also has a $2-billion-euro bond repayment due next year.
The IMF also urged Ruto's
government to reform public sector firms, particularly the national electricity
supplier — Kenya Power and the national carrier Kenya Airways — which suffered
record losses in 2022.
The World Bank said on Monday
that it expects to provide the country of 53 million people with $12 billion in
support over the next three years.
Kenya had accumulated more
than $66 billion (10.1 trillion shillings) in debt by the end of June —
according to Treasury figures — equivalent to around two-thirds of gross
domestic product.
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