Kenya’s National Treasury and Economic Planning Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi says funding squeeze from the USA has exposed the country.
Speaking at national anti-corruption forum in the capital of Nairobi, Mbadi said the East African nations fiscal space had no ‘legroom left’.
“We will be left to look inward and this is the worst period for Kenya” said Mbadi.
The minister once again took issues to with the nation’s debt burden that he said was occasioned by a borrowing spree between 2014 and 2019.
“Some time back we made a decision to take loans as a country and these loans have now reached their peak,” he lamented.
Kenya like many developing countries has been feeling the heat following USAID funding suspension by the Trump administration.
The country has been receiving billions of US dollars to support a number of programs across various sectors like health, governance, climate change mitigation and human rights.
“We excect the European Union to follow suit” said Mbadi on the cuts
In October 2024, the European Commission intimated that it would be cutting its spending on developing nations by at least 35 per cent for the period 2025 to 2027.
In February this year British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that he will be slashing aid spend to 0.3 per cent of the country’s national income, from 2027.
Mbadi however quipped that Kenya would be in a position to fund a majority of its programs if the level of corruption halved. Previously retired president Uhuru Kenyatta while still in office shocked the country announcing that at least Ksh2B was lost daily to graft
“If it is true end if we reduce our appetite for stealing… if we reduce corruption losses by just Ksh1B daily, then we would have Ksh365B. More than what we borrow in a year,” added the cabinet secretary.