David Ndii, the Chair of President William Ruto’s Council of Economic Advisors, has announced that the hustler fund is run by the private sector and that public officials have no access to it.
Speaking on Citizen TV’s News Night show, Ndii told show host Waihiga Mwaura, Ndii said the fund is fully automated and run by an engine provided by the telcos, The Economist said that at no point was the hustler fund a grant. @When we started out the hustler fund, we were talking about finance for business, SMEs. When we went out to talk to the people, their most serious pain point was predatory lending by fintech’s” said Ndii.
Ndii also opened up on why the late former President Mwai Kibaki did not turn to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for loans during his first term in office. ” When Kibaki ascended to power, Kenya was operating on a balanced budget and since the country’s revenues were equal to expenditures, there was no budget deficit or surplus.” He said.
“The reason why we did not go to the IMF is that by 2006 we were running a budget surplus. We were actually running a balanced budget,” said the economist.
Ndii said the government is in debt and needs to tax someone to service the debt. “When I tell people this railway you are celebrating you will pay for it, people said that I was being cynical” He said.
