Kenya’s Government to Borrow Less Due to Budget Deficit Reduction Plans
Kenya’s new president William Ruto arrives to be sworn in to office at a ceremony held at Kasarani stadium in Nairobi, Kenya Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. 
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) – with which the Kenyan government is cooperating just now – has form when it comes to insisting that countries which receive a bail-out align their public finances with neo-liberal free-market policies such as eliminating subsidies and regulation and cutting government budgets.Kenya’s government will reduce borrowing to decrease the budget deficit, high-ranking officials from the country said on Thursday.”We must cut our appetite for borrowing,” Ndindi Nyoro, the chairman of parliament’s budget panel pointed out.Kenya’s Finance Minister Njuguna Ndung’u also spoke about the country’s plans to influence public finances.”We intend to contain growth in non-priority expenditure to reduce the fiscal deficit,” he said.It was decided to reduce the budget deficit after a staff-level agreement was reached on Tuesday with the International Monetary Fund to provide the country with new financing.
AfricaAnti-IMF Protests Hit Ghana’s Capital Accra6 November, 14:01 GMTAn IMF press release states that Kenya will have access to about $433Mln in financing once all stages of the agreement are completed.Loans from the IMF come with stringent conditions, prescribed by the international lender. The conditions are often presented as belt-tightening measures, with the aim to introduce fiscal discipline into the economy by increasing revenues and cutting spending.However, some experts argue that the actual purpose of these loans is to effect major and fundamental neo-liberal policy changes, such as privatization, establishment of free markets and deregulation.In mid-September, the IMF forced Kenya to scrap fuel subsidies, resulting in prices hitting a new record.In October, Kenya’s President William Ruto said that the government intends to increase annual revenue collection by a third through expanding the tax base.
