Browsing: taxes

• Asset financing firms in Kenya remain unregulated, the only exception among the seven countries in which Watu Credit operates.
• This revelation came out during an ongoing inquiry by Kenya’s Finance and National Planning Committee on asset finance companies.
• In the probe, the CEO of Watu Credit acknowledged that Kenyan law lacks regulation of businesses operating in this market segment.

Purchasing assets directly can be expensive and risky and hold a company or individual back from expansion. Asset financing, therefore, provides a great option to acquire the assets an individual or business needs without shouldering hefty expenditures. The asset financing structure has benefits for both the lenders and the borrowers. Asset financing can take many forms, such as hire purchase, equipment lease, asset refinance, operating lease, or finance lease, depending on the kind of business you are involved in.

Investigation of Asset Financing Firms in Kenya

It has emerged that …

There are increasingly more and more ‘outbreaks’ of non-communicable diseases in Africa and more so in sub-Saharan Africa.

These lifestyle ailments are ironically a symbol of increasing income among the population. As more and more African countries rise from low-income to middle-income status, statistics show a correlation with the rising number of people suffering from non-communicable diseases.

The reason is simple; when you rise in income, people do not increase their eating of the vitamin-rich greens they used to eat when they could not afford unhealthy but yet prestigious red meat; no, they change their diet to gabble up the ‘rich man’ foods, unwittingly damaging their health.

A local paper puts it into perspective; ‘People’s eating habits are shifting from food rich in starchy staples, vegetables and fruits to a more westernized diet high in sugar, saturated fats and oils’ the recipe for non-communicable diseases.

The troubling fact is that …

President Mnangagwa said his Government is convinced that the recent exchange rate movements were driven by negative sentiments by economic agents as opposed to economic fundamentals.

“These negative sentiments have been propagating adverse expectations on future inflation and exchange rate movements, thus giving rise to artificially high demand for foreign currency as economic agents hedge against expected high inflation,” he added.

The Government listed measures that are expected to restore macroeconomic stability, support the current robust economic recovery trajectory, boost economic confidence, increase the appeal of the local currency, preserve value for depositors and investors and deal with market indiscipline.…

Kenya’s banking industry contributed 27 percent of all corporate taxes paid in the country in 2020 and 2019.

According to a report by Kenya Bankers Association, the contribution were adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic that caused a 12 percent overall decline in their total tax contribution during the period.

The report was compiled by audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on behalf of the Kenya Bankers Association.

It attributes the decline to reductions in corporate taxes and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) collections.

“This decline is partly attributable to reduced tax rates, specifically reduction of corporate tax rate from 30 percent to 25 percent, reduction of the top PAYE rate from 30 percent to 25 percent and the reduction of Value Added Tax rate from 16 percent to 14 percent. The aim of these measures was to provide relief to taxpayers against adverse economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic,’’ the report …