Kenya’s president says the country will set up sovereign wealth and development funds

President William Ruto announced that Kenya is creating an infrastructure fund and a sovereign wealth fund to invest in important areas without going through another debt binge that has put a burden on the country’s budget in previous years.

After increasing borrowing to build infrastructure over the last ten years, the East African country has one of the highest debt payback to revenue ratios on the continent.

“We are now working on two significant funds. One is the infrastructure fund, and the other is the sovereign wealth fund, which we will launch,” Ruto stated over the weekend.

He claimed that a legislation governing the privatization of state assets had been passed by lawmakers, providing the government with a chance to acquire money to establish the two entities.

“As responsible citizens of the present, we must think about the generations of tomorrow and we must keep for them something, so that tomorrow, they have a place to start,” he stated.

The sale of shares in Kenya Pipeline Company, a state company that oversees the transportation infrastructure for petroleum products in Kenya and its neighboring states, would serve as the catalyst for the privatization effort.

According to Ruto, the share offer might collect up to 130 billion shillings ($1.01 billion).

According to Ruto, the infrastructure fund will be used to support farming, which is Kenya’s largest economic sector, particularly to increase crop production so that some can be exported.

According to the president, the funds will also be used to boost energy production. Kenya, which has a 2,300 megawatt power generation capacity, needs at least 10,000 megawatts of fresh output in order to industrialize.

“For far too long we have been on an average trajectory and that is why we are not making progress,” he stated.
Ruto did not specify when the money would start to function.