Lawmakers oppose plan to raise the debt ceiling to Sh 12trillion

The Treasury will find it difficult to raise the debt ceiling to Sh12 trillion from the current Sh9 trillion after MPs opposed the plan.

The lawmakers say it would be untenable to allow the Treasury to go on another borrowing spree by raising the debt ceiling.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani has however not responded to the news.

But some MPs said the proposal might not sail through Parliament because of the country’s current economic situation.

A high ranking member of the National Assembly told the local news outlet that the first challenge would be lobbying lawmakers to back the proposal.

The same scenario played out when Treasury sought Parliament’s approval for the current Sh9 trillion cap.

The other reason is that Parliament is currently polarised by the Building Bridges Initiative politics and 2022 succession.

Eldama Ravine MP and Budget committee vice chair Moses Lessonet said his team was unaware of plans to raise the debt ceiling.

But the committee would recommend the state works within the limit of Sh9 trillion cap if the matter came up to them.

“The government has to work a strategy to fit within the range. The economy has not expanded that much to accommodate a figure beyond Sh9 trillion,” Lessonet said.

Tharaka Nithi Senator Kithure Kindiki said if the Treasury pushed the proposal through, the situation would turn for the worst as Kenya is already sinking in debt.

The lawmaker argued that the “simple, painless solution to our current fiscal crisis it to drop all non-essential, non- emergency expenditure from the budget.”Adding He’d vote no should the proposal go to the Senate.