RATE CAP

Government should not have given into greedy banks

Uhuru declined to approve the Finance Bill and asked MPs to scrap commercial lending rate cap.

In Summary

• The banks simply waited for the government to blink first and sure enough, it has given in.

•  The banks knew that starving MSME’s of credit would cause a slowdown in the economy and force the government’s hand

President Uhuru Kenyatta signing into law the Banking (Amendment) Bill, 2015 at State House, on August 24
President Uhuru Kenyatta signing into law the Banking (Amendment) Bill, 2015 at State House, on August 24
Image: PSCU

It is unfortunate that President Uhuru Kenyatta wants to turn his back on the push to rein in on greedy banks.

He declined to approve the Finance Bill and asked MPs to scrap commercial lending rate cap. The banks simply waited for the government to blink first and sure enough, it has given in.

The banks knew that starving MSME’s of credit would cause a slowdown in the economy and force the government’s hand. Unfettered capitalist liberalisation is harmful and the government should have taken action on banks that are maliciously denying Kenyans credit.

Kenya should not allow itself to be an oligarchy where big corporations and banks are allowed to harm the economy so that they can continue making outrageous profits at citizen’s expense.

Nairobi

 

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