- 'Curious' Dupont eyes position change after claiming Top 14 award
- Man Utd stadium regeneration could add £7.3bn to British economy
- At COP16, Colombia seeks to lead by example on biodiversity
- Dupont caps off Olympic gold season with Top 14 player award
- Leeds to expand Elland Road to 53,000 capacity
- Mysterious 18th century diamond necklace set for auction
- World's oceans near critical acidification level: report
- California sues oil giant Exxon over plastic recycling 'myth'
- As wars rage, UN's critics say global body is failing its mission
- Amazon forest has lost an area the size of Germany and France
- Nadal, Alcaraz and Sinner in Davis Cup finals teams
- Telegram's Durov announces new crackdown on illegal content
- African players in Europe: Ice-cool Jackson strikes twice
- Man City's Rodri 'out for season' after ACL injury: reports
- Venezuelan court issues arrest warrant for Argentina's Milei
- Arsenal not yet a match for Man City-Liverpool rivalry, says Silva
- Iran's new president calls Israel warmonger as he seeks talks with West
- Berlin warns UniCredit against Commerzbank takeover attempt
- Black Eyed Peas star harnesses AI for novel radio product
- England cricket captain Knight reprimanded over 'blackface' photo
- Barca goalkeeper Ter Stegen set to miss season after knee operation
- 'I lived a lie', tearful witness tells French mass rape trial
- 274 dead in Israeli strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon
- Gunman revealed Trump plot months before golf course arrest: DOJ
- Trial opens in Italy student murder case that opened eyes to femicide
- Iran president accuses Israel of seeking conflict, says opposes war
- Swedish battery maker Northvolt to slash 1,600 jobs, quarter of staff
- Joshua says boxing career 'far from over' after Dubois defeat
- Stock markets inch higher on rate hopes
- 182 dead in Israeli strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon
- Friedkin Group reach deal to buy Everton
- UniCredit ups stake in Commerzbank to 21 percent
- Big rate cut was 'appropriate' first step: Fed official
- Stock markets diverge as eurozone economy struggles
- Lebanon says 100 dead in Israeli strikes on Hezbollah strongholds
- Man City's Akanji sends defiant title message after Arsenal battle
- Madrid's 'many styles' key to unbeaten streak: Ancelotti
- UK's Labour pledges economic rebuild amid free gifts row
- Barca goalkeeper Ter Stegen to undergo knee operation
- French mass rape trial moves on to new defendants
- Israel warns Lebanese as intense strikes target Hezbollah
- UK's Labour looks to be more cheerful despite gifts and welfare row
- Eurozone business activity slumps after Olympics boost
- Russia, Ukraine cross swords in sea dispute court battle
- Albania plans Sufi Muslim microstate within its borders
- EU launches WTO challenge against China dairy probe
- Murdoch's REA ups offer for property website Rightmove
- India's one-horned rhino numbers charging ahead, govt says
- Rescuers comb muddy riverbanks after Japan floods kill seven
- Asian stocks boosted by US rate cut, China stimulus hope
Kenya unveils $28 billion budget to spur recovery
Kenya's finance minister on Thursday unveiled a $28 billion budget aimed at helping the economy recover after the Covid-19 pandemic threw hundreds of thousands of people out of work.
The financial roadmap for the 2022/2023 fiscal year, announced just four months before the country goes to the polls, also pumps billions into outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta's so-called legacy projects and major infrastructure -- much of it funded by China.
"We have outlined policies in this budget that are geared towards returning the economy back on a more sustainable growth path for improved livelihoods," Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani told parliament.
He said the East African powerhouse's economy was set to grow by six percent in the current calendar year, down from 7.6 percent last year but a marked improvement on the 0.3 percent contraction in 2020 -- the first in three decades.
The 3.3 trillion shilling ($28 billion, 26 billion euro) budget illustrates the fine line the government is walking between trying to improve people's livelihoods but also boost its own coffers by increasing taxes.
Yatani forecast a budget deficit of 6.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), down from 7.5 percent in the previous fiscal year.
If the budget is approved by parliament, the government will also splash out 146 billion shillings on Kenyatta's legacy schemes under his so-called Big Four Agenda, which focuses on food security, affordable housing, affordable healthcare and manufacturing.
It is also planning to spend billions of dollars on infrastructure projects such as an expressway aimed at easing the capital Nairobi's notoriously congested roads and the expansion of the nation's railway network.
Kenya was battered by the coronavirus pandemic, which slashed income from the vital tourist sector, although agriculture -- the backbone of the economy -- proved more resilient.
F.Pavlenko--BTB