Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

The private sector wants the Sh9 trillion debt ceiling revoked.

Kenya Private Sector Alliance (Kepsa) Foundation’s Lee Karuri said the country should instead strengthen its debt management framework.

“Let us get an accurate picture of our debt position, including contingent liabilities and commercial credit and then seek to holistically restructure it,” said Karuri.

He wants the government to stop projects that are yet to commence a the view to halting or downsizing them.

Insufficient revenue mobilisation by the government and unrealistic revenue targets for Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), Karuri said, are the major hinderances to growth.

Over the last decade, the government’s fiscal expenditure has been rising faster than revenue collected. 

Budget deficit exceeds Sh600 billion, and each year the government sets higher and higher revenue targets for KRA, which are consistently missed.