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Piece of SHIF.
Your daily dose of Kenyan business & finance news
Kenyan Wall Street
October 01, 2024
⚕️ Let’s hope this piece of SHIF works
Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) is now live and everyone has a lot of unanswered questions about deductions, benefits, etc. Yesterday, as the clock was ticking, Parliament grilled Health CS Deborah Barasa on a host of issues and while she was able to easily explain that salaried employees will see 2.75% deducted, she had no clear answer on how non-salaried persons would contribute. There is no shortage of controversy in the airwaves about this SHIF and the Social Health Authority, which is led by a consortium of players including the darling Safaricom, as it leaves millions wondering if the Health Ministry even understands what is going on. That’s not all of the story.
💰 Zimbabwe’s gold-backed ZiG appears to be BS
Zimbabwe just can’t seem to build a reputable currency. Earlier this year, the Southern African country launched ZiG which is supposedly backed by gold to replace the horribly incompetent Zimbabwean Dollar. On Friday, the currency fell 43% to the US Dollar. If a currency is actually backed by gold, shouldn’t it mimic the movements of gold’s price which is currently in a bull market? Yes, but that is not the case for the country who has failed to stabilize its currency since its peak inflation in 2008/9 when a 10 trillion dollar bill was minted and it barely bought a loaf of bread. Last Thursday, you could buy 13.99 ZiG for 1 USD but today that rate is now 25.13 ZiG to the USD. Can Zimbabwe continue at this rate?
💵 Ruto’s cabinet is far from poor
KShs. 5.5B. That’s how much Ruto’s top 5 richest CS’s are collectively worth. In an economy where 100 Shillings means a lot, having Kenya’s wealthy elite lead the country not only raises red flags, but also raises questions over their ability to relate with the masses they lead. Here is the full list of Ruto’s wealthiest CS’s:
Ali Hassan Joho (KShs. 2.3B)
Aden Duale (KShs. 980M)
Justin Muturi (KShs. 801M)
Julius Ogumba (KShs. 790M)
Kindiki Kithure (KShs. 694M)
Despite their great net worth, Kenyans have big expectations of their Cabinet Secretaries including (1) Transparency & Accountability, (2) Public Engagement, and (3) Economic & Social Impact. Dive deeper into the net worth of Ruto’s new cabinet.
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