The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) nominee and former National Treasury Principal Secretary Kamau Thugge who was sacked following the controversial Sh63billion Kimwarer and Arror Dams scandal has proposed floating of a dollar denominated bond to stabilise the erratic Kenya shilling.
While appearing before the Finance and National Planning Committee of the National Assembly chaired by Kuria Kimani the suggested bonds would free up dollars held up in bank accounts.
“We can issue a dollar-denominated bond to see how we can entice Kenyans who have dollars into their account that are not in use. I know that there are more than 1 trillion in deposits which can ease the pressure on the dollar.” Thugge said.
He added that if his nomination by president William Ruto is approved, will focus on reducing the fiscal deficit which was increased by borrowing to finance mega infrastructural projects and also increasing revenue mobilisation by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to plug the deficit.
“Our revenue mobilization has declined over the years and also we have seen infrastructure projects that have increased external borrowing. How do we deal with this? We will look to reduce the budgetary deficit to 4 per cent of GDP and this will be one of the major ways of addressing the debt issue in the country.” Thugge added.
The former PS and current advisor to the National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u said his net worth is Sh450million.
“It comprises of properties, shares and cash equivalents.” He said.
Some of the properties include a house in Mombasa, an apartment in Westlands, a plot of land in Ridgeways, Kiambu Road and in Thika Greens.
Ruto nominated him on May 15, 2023 following the imminent retirement of Patrick Njoroge, whose two terms end next month.
If approved by the National Assembly, Thugge will become Kenya’s 10th CBK governor after trouncing Dorcas Mutonyi, Haron Sirima, Edward Sambili, Nancy Onyango and Adan Mohamed, who were shortlisted by the Public Service Commission early this month.
