Kenya hovered to Privatize 35 State Companies after Enacting a Law last month to guide the Operation Kenya’s President disclose

By Abdul Rahman Bangura-

Photo Credit: Kanere.org

NEW AFRICA BUSINESS NEWS (NABN) Freetown, Sierra Leone- Finance Minister Njuguna Ndung’u told Reuters that the names of the firms to be sold would be announced at a later date.

“We have identified the first 35 companies that we are going to offer to the private sector. We have another close to 100 we are working with financial advisers on what to do,” William Ruto let out in his
remarks at the opening ceremony of the African Stock Exchanges Association’s annual meeting in Nairobi.

Finance Minister Njuguna Ndung’u divulged to newsmen that the names of the firms to be sold would be announced at a later date.

Kenya’s public finances have been pressured by the inheritance of the COVID-19 pandemic and frequent climate change-induced droughts and there is apprehension over its ability to access allotment from financial markets before a $2bn (R52bn) Eurobond matures in June While Rusaid said Kenya would now be competent to offloading potentially “lucrative” companies where growth has been limited by bureaucracy, Ndung’u denied the listing drive was intended to shore up government finances.

“One of (the aims) is to inspire market activity. Cash is a secondary issue,” he said.

Ruto told Kenya modified its privatization law in October of 2023 to peel off “modify bureaucracies” and that the offloading new drive would boost Africa’s pipeline of company floatation.

Bourses on the mainland have underperformed this year as global investors spurned assets scented as risky, with a scarcity of listings, a cliff in transnational interest rate, and China’s economic struggles.

With 40 exchanges across the mainland. “If well harnessed, stock exchanges can be the engine that transforms Africa into a global economic powerhouse and financial center of the world,” the president said.

Thapelo Thseole, ASEA’s president who doubles as the CEO of the Botswana Stock Exchange, spoke out regulatory changes in some nations had ushered to contemporary IPOs, citing that listing in Uganda by telecoms firm Bharti Airtel.

For New Africa Business News (NABN) Abdul Rahman Bangura Reports,  Africa Correspondent