SOTN: How Covid-19 economic stimulus saved Kenya - Uhuru

President Uhuru Kenyatta has explained how the first Covid-19 stimulus package saved Kenya.

Speaking during the State of the Nation address on Tuesday, Uhuru said the stimulus package made the impact of Covid-19 on Kenya’s economy less severe.

In 2020, Uhuru outlined an eight-point economic stimulus programme to help keep the country afloat even as the coronavirus pandemic ravages lives globally.

Uhuru said the first element of the Sh53.7 billion package will focus on infrastructure.

“You can always revive an ailing economy but you cannot bring to life those who die from the pandemic,” Uhuru said during the address.

He pointed out how the stimulus led to the growth of sectors.

“The intervention in tea sector has seen tea farmers earn more than they ever earned,” he said.

In Education, Uhuru said the intervention saw the construction of 10,000 new classrooms.

“They should be ready by December. When most economies in the world shrunk, Kenya's' economy grew at 0.3% during the 2020 period despite the Covid-19 challenge,” he said.

“Although this positive growth was minimal, the second quarter of 2021 registered the most impressive growth ever recorded in our nation’s real GDP.”

Uhuru said a crisis is indeed about choices; those who choose danger and fear do not survive.

“Those who see the crisis through the lens of opportunity develop resilience and are able build back better,” he said.

The President said during the pandemic, we had the capacity to generate only 3M litres of oxygen per day in March of 2020.

"Today we have improved our oxygen generation capacity in public health facilities 10times to 32M litres per day as of October 2021," he said.

In 2020, a total of Sh5 billion was set aside to hire local labour in this undertaking.

The government also allocated Sh10 billion to fast-track payment of outstanding VAT refunds and other pending payments.

Edited by CM