Kenya new car sales plunge 15 per cent in 2023 as new taxes and weaker currency bite
Individuals and businesses bought 11,370 units last year, the Kenya Motor Industry Association said in data released on Friday, down from 13,352 units sold in 2022.
US Africa Command donates 6,730 protective equipment worth $1.4m to Kenya Defence Forces
Kenya and the US in September 2023 signed a five-year joint defence deal aimed at enhancing regional peace and security.
Kenyan marathon world record holder Kiptum gets quasi-state funeral, praised as rare talent, family man
The 24-year-old Kiptum had only run three international marathons but each was among the fastest seven times ever recorded. He set the world record in Chicago last October in two hours and 35 seconds, shaving 34 seconds off his compatriot Eliud Kipchoge’s mark.
Samson and Delilah: Judge lays out how plot to assassinate Haitian President Moise was masterminded by his widow
Moise was shot dead when armed men broke into his Port-au-Prince bedroom on the night of July 7, 2021, a raid that left the former first lady injured. The judge’s order calls for the arrest and trial of those charged.
Despite spirited push to incentivise local sugarcane growing, farmers in western Kenya are ditching the ‘lazy man’s’ crop for coffee
Despite the government in the past two years trying to assuage sugarcane farmers by paying them for raw material deliveries that been pending for years, continued interest and investment in “lazy man’s crop” – as sugar cane is derided by agricultural experts and economists – has waned significantly in the sugar-belt.
White House announces US President Biden will host Kenya’s President Ruto in May
Word of Ruto’s visit comes after Haiti announced this week that it is working on an official agreement with Kenyan officials to secure the long-awaited deployment of Kenyan police forces there. High-ranking officials from both countries recently met in the US for three days to draft a memorandum of understanding and set a deadline for the arrival of forces in Haiti from the east African country.
How $170,000 factory converted banana, potato farming from subsistence into commercial enterprise in western Kenya
Now, as Kenya looks to be food secure, harvesting and drying up perishables such as bananas and potatoes (Irish and sweet) is expected to give such foods a longer shelf life, besides diversification.
Kenya targets lower budget deficit in next fiscal year after decade of debt-fuelled infrastructure spending
To cover the deficit, the government will raise 326.1 billion shillings in net external financing, and another 377.7 billion shillings in net domestic borrowing. Overall spending will rise to 4.19 trillion shillings ($28.90 billion) from an estimated 3.90 trillion shillings in this fiscal year, the ministry said.
Plan by Kenya to buy back $1.4 billion of international bond eases investor jitters it might default
The pressure on the Kenyan government’s finances has forced it to try to squeeze every shilling it can from taxpayers, angering voters who had supported the current government on the premise it would lower the cost of living.
Central Bank of Kenya buys dollars to slow down strengthening of the shilling against hard currencies
The government also sold a 70 billion shilling infrastructure bond, receiving over 288 billion shillings of bids, a 412 per cent subscription rate, with strong offshore investor participation. The Kenyan shilling extended gains on Wednesday, hitting its strongest in more than three months as confidence the government would pay off a Eurobond maturing in June buoyed investor appetite.
