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Kenya’s president, Ruto, eyes tax reforms, wants to tax wealth than commerce

Published

2 years ago

September 30, 2022

Kenya’s newly elected president, William Ruto, has continued the public sector reforms he promised the Kenyan populace as he on Thursday announced a plan to reform the country’s tax system.

President Ruto said he is “determined to ensure” that Kenya’s tax system “responds to the needs of the economy” as he intends to make the tax system “fairer” by making the richest people pay more, in his first speech to parliament.

The new tax system “must be fair, efficient” and “the tax burden must reflect the ability to pay” of every taxpayer. “We are taxing commerce too much and wealth too little,” Mr. Ruto said.

The president also on Thursday instructed the finance ministry to cut 300 billion shillings ($2.5 billion) from annual government spending this year.

Ruto earlier this week unveiled his cabinet as he appointed former central bank governor, Njuguna Ndung’u, as finance minister as the East African country battles rising inflation, a heavy debt burden, and drought.

General elections were held in Kenya on 9 August 2022. Voters elected William Ruto as the East African country’s fifth president after a close contest with a veteran contender, Raila Odinga.

The East African giant is currently going through economic stress as inflation has been on an upward trend lately to hit its highest in five years at 8.5% in August, from 8.3% year-on-year in July, up from 7.9% in June.

Related Topics:Featured Kenya Tax reforms

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Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery exports first fuel to Cameroon

Published

4 days ago

December 12, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The Dangote Refinery in Nigeria said on Wednesday that it had exported its first petrol to Cameroon, marking a significant milestone that may help stabilise gasoline costs throughout the region and open the door for regional energy integration.

When fully operational, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote’s 650,000-barrel refinery in Lagos is intended to alter the trade of refined products in the Atlantic basin and compete with refineries in Europe.

According to a statement by Neptune Oil, an energy company based in Cameroon, both businesses were looking into new projects to create a dependable supply chain that would assist in stabilising fuel costs and opportunities throughout the area.

According to Neptune Oil, there were no middlemen involved in the petrol delivery deal.

It is anticipated that the refinery’s operations will spur growth in the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors, increasing investments in cement manufacture, plastic and rubber production, chemical and pharmaceutical goods, and oil refining.

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Egypt’s November inflation drops to 25.5%, near 2-year low

Published

5 days ago

December 11, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

According to figures released Tuesday by statistics agency CAPMAS, Egypt’s annual urban consumer price inflation rate fell more than anticipated to 25.5% in November, the lowest level since December 2022.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which caused international investors to pull billions of dollars out of Egyptian treasury markets, inflation started to rise sharply in early 2022.

In September 2023, headline inflation reached a record high of 38.0%. It dropped to 26.5% by October 2024.

In a Reuters survey last month, 15 economists’ consensus prediction was for annual inflation to gradually decline to 26.4%.

According to CAPMAS statistics, headline inflation decreased from 1.1% in October to 0.5% in November every month.

Compared to October, when they fell 1.1%, food costs fell 2.8% over the month, making them 23.3% more than they were a year ago.

An increase in the money supply has been a major contributor to inflation. According to central bank data, Egypt’s M2 money supply increased by 29.54% in October compared to the same month last year.