East African finance ministers are presenting their spending plans for the 2024/2025 fiscal year against a backdrop of a fragile operating environment fuelled by rising public debts, high fuel prices, falling household and business incomes and global geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, which are colluding to stifle economic growth in the region.

 

Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwandan finance ministers will be outlining their budgetary allocations to key priority sectors to bolster economic growth and the various taxation measures to fund the budgets.

However, the ministers face a delicate balancing act in adopting revenue-raising policies that do not push the economies into debt distress and discourage regional trade and investment through punitive taxation measures.

The region’s growth is projected to pick up from an estimated 3.5 percent in 2023 to 5.1 percent in 2024 and 5.7 percent in 2025, according to the African Development Bank (AfDB), boosted by infrastructure development and increased regional trade. © Copyright 2022 Nation Media Group. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).