The Kenyan government has allocated Ksh.16.3 billion to support initiatives in the Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) sector in the 2024/2025 Budget.
This was revealed by Kenya’s National Treasury CS Njuguna Ndung’u while reading the Budget in Parliament on Thursday.
The allocation is set to finance several government projects under the ICT Ministry and includes Ksh.1.1 billion for Government Shared Services; Ksh.704 million for the Digital Superhighway; and Ksh.2.3 billion for the Construction of Kenya Advanced Institute of Science and Technology at Konza Technopolis.
To fast-track the development of the Konza Technopolis City, the government has also allocated Ksh.1.5 billion for the Horizontal Infrastructure Phase I; and Ksh.5.2 billion for Konza Data Centre and Smart City Facilities.
Ksh.2.8 billion has further been allocated to support Kenya’s Digital Economy Acceleration Project and Ksh.2.8 million for maintenance and rehabilitation of the Last Mile County Connectivity Network.
‘’Investment in digital superhighway and the creative economy continues to play a critical role in enabling the Government to achieve the objectives ofBottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda through increased productivity and competitiveness.’’ The minister said adding that these investments continue to create job opportunities for the youth.
The government’s digital loans initiative Hustler Fund, has also received a boost with an allocation of Ksh.5 billion. This is despite the kitty racking up Ksh.10 million in defaults since being rolled out in 2022. The allocation is also a 50% drop from last year when the government announced a Ksh.10 million allocation to the fund.
The fund was designed to improve financial access to responsible finance for personal, micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). It is a creation of the draft Public Finance Management (Financial Inclusion Fund) Regulations, 2022 and was one of President Ruto’s key promises during the campaigns.
The minister said to strengthen economic recovery, the Government will accelerate the implementation of policies, programs, projects and interventions which include supporting the growth of digital superhighway and the creative economy for job creation.
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