NAIROBI, Kenya Sept 13 – President William Ruto says Kenya would spend Sh200 Billion if it was to continue implementing the fuel subsidy.
In his inaugural speech, Ruto Ruto said Sh144 billion has so far been spent on the program to stabilize fuel prices in the past year.
Sh60 Billion has been spent on the last four reviews alone.
The fuel subsidy was initiated by his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta in a move to reduce the cost of fuel by approximately 13 percent but Ruto now says it is no longer tenable.
The government’s delay in paying the subsidy has resulted in fuel shortages occasioned sometimes by hoarding.
“The interventions in place have not borne any fruit. On fuel subsidy alone, the taxpayers have spent a total of Sh144 billion, a whooping Ksh 60 billion in the last 4 months,” Ruto said.
If the subsidy continues to the end of the financial year, Ruto said, it will cost the taxpayer Sh280 billion, equivalent to the entire national government development budget.
Additionally, he said, there was an attempt to subsidize Unga in the run up to the election, a program that gobbled up Sh7 billion in one month, with no impact.
“In addition to being very costly, consumption subsidy interventions are prone to abuse, they distort markets and create uncertainty, including artificial shortages of the very products being subsidized,” Ruto said on taking over power from his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta who served for 10 years.
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