Kenya’s president urges central bank to curb predatory lending

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta urged the central bank on Tuesday to use all its tools to prevent predatory lending and to boost affordable credit, especially to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Kenyatta promised to focus on the economy in the next few months, acknowledging that many people have been complaining of severe hardships in recent years.

“This sector (SMEs) is indeed the lifeblood of our economy,” he said in a televised address.

The East African nation is enjoying a stable foreign exchange rate, low inflation and a reduced current account deficit.

But it is still suffering from a general sense of economic malaise, concerns over mounting debt, sluggish revenue growth, corruption scandals, a slowdown in output and job losses.

Kenyatta said that the government had paid about 70% of all pending bills to suppliers, after frequent delays in those payments were blamed for hitting small businesses and costing jobs.

Source:Reuters