'Debt is a necessary seed that will produce harvest' President Kenyatta allays fears - Capital Business
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‘Debt is a necessary seed that will produce harvest’ President Kenyatta allays fears

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 15 – President Uhuru Kenyatta has reassured the country’s rising debt is within control and necessary to finance infrastructure projects.  

In his state of the nation address, the President said the national debt, which is currently at 50 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, is being put to good use.

“Like a farmer who must sow their seeds before they can expect a harvest, our investment in infrastructure will be the seed that will produce the harvest of faster economic growth and more jobs for our people,” President Kenyatta preached.

While acknowledging concerns about the ballooning debt, the President assured the country is not at risk of defaulting, neither has it struggled to pay its creditors.

“The borrowing my administration has undertaking both from domestic and international creditors has been solely to finance the most aggressive development agenda witnessed in Kenya’s history. The evidence of a greatly expanded transport infrastructure, increased energy production, increased access to electricity, and improved security are plain for all Kenyans to see,” he stated.

Among the successes he highlighted is the completion of the first phase of Standard Gauge Railway that is set to be commissioned on June 1, 2017 as well as the completion of 1,950 kilometres new roads and another 7000 kilometres under different phases of construction.

“The Jubilee government is also boasting of connection of electricity to 3.7 million new homes doubling the total number of connections made since independence as well as connecting every county headquarters to Fiber Optic technology while 50 percent of all sub-county headquarters are also connected.”

Also, the President said the Jubilee government has connected 14,045 schools representing over 98 percent of all public primary schools in the country.

He maintained that the economy is robust growing at annual percentage rate of 5.9 percent against global average of 3 percent.

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