ECONOMIC CRISIS

Ndii: How I wish we lost the election to 'dynasty brothers'

The President's economic advisor said the 'dynasty brothers' would have inherited their mess.

In Summary
  • Ndii said Uhuru did nothing to address the debt nightmare since he chose to 'burn Forex Reserves'.
  • According to Ndii, Uhuru burned forex reserves to prop up both the shilling and interest rates artificially.
President William Ruto's Economic Advisor David Ndii
President William Ruto's Economic Advisor David Ndii
Image: FILE

 

President William Ruto's chairperson of the Council of Economic Advisors David Ndii has said that he wished 'we lost the election' so that Azimio could inherit their mess.

The economist said on Sunday that Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta did nothing to address the debt nightmare since he chose to 'burn Forex Reserves'.

In a series of posts and replies on his officaila X account, Ndii projected tough economic times for the country, asking Kenyans to brace for the worst as debts mature.

He said the situation has been made worse with the shilling which is on a  freefall against the dollar.

''If US rates don’t ease for markets to open for frontier economies…its a wing and a prayer. Over to you churchgoers,'' he said.

Speaking about the country's maturing debts in the coming year, Ndii said Uhuru left a debt legacy nightmare that has forced him to think that it would have been better if Kenya Kwanza lost the elections.

Respnding to @murigimuraya who suggested that Uhuru had managed to retain investor confidence after winning his second term, Ndii said it was a miracle that Kenya had not defaulted.

 ''Uhuru’s debt legacy nightmare. A trillion domestic redemption in 2023. It’s a miracle we’ve not defaulted. Foreign redemptions double in 2024,'' he said.

@murigimuraya had claimed that all was well until 2022 when ''unethical Kenyans voted in politicons who fought EACC for 5 yrs.''

''Now we have depreciated to KES 150 - 1 U$D,'' he posted on the X platform admitting that Uhuru had weaponized the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission between 2013-2017 and borrowed more.

However, according to Ndii, Uhuru burned forex reserves to prop up both the shilling and interest rates artificially.

''Now we become the falls guys for biting bullet. You don’t know how often I wish we lost the election to see the dynasty brothers wading in their mess,'' he said.

Kenya's debt level has reached record highs despite President Ruto's vow to tame the country's appetite for loans, treasury figures show.

Total public debt rose by a record 1.56 trillion shillings in the financial year ended June 30 to 10.1 trillion shillings, breaching a debt ceiling of 10 trillion shillings.

"The increase in the public debt is attributed to external loan disbursements, exchange rate fluctuations and the uptake of domestic and external debt," the Treasury said in August.

Loan repayment costs, mainly to China, have shot up as the local currency trades at record lows.

The cost of debt servicing in the year ended June was 391 billion shillings, of which the highest payment-107 billion shillings - went to China.

MPs voted in June to change the debt ceiling from a fixed shilling amount to a proportion of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). 

 

 

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