Budget 2019: Bankers, cane farmers biggest winners - KBC

Bankers, those in the construction industry and cane farmers were the biggest winners after National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich announced measures favouring them.

All new capital projects have been frozen while ongoing ones will be audited by the public debt management office.

In a bid to address the huge backlog of tax refunds, CS Rotich has proposed to reduce withholding tax from 6 to 2 per cent, while forming a team to scrutinize all pending refunds with the aim of clearing the backlog in the next two months.

Plastic recyclers have been given a lifeline with the removal of all VAT on all services offered to the players in the sector.

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The move is expected to help deal with the menace of pollution.

Importers of steel and allied metal products will also face higher import bill, with the CS retaining the ad valorem rate of 25 per cent.

Imported duty of raw timber has also been abolished in a move meant to shield local forests from logging.

The government has further reduced excise duty on imported electric cars from 25 to 10 per cent.

Rotich proposed that the Banking (Amendment) Act, 2016 be amended by repealing section 33B of the Act that gives the central bank power to set the benchmark lending rates.

This is expected to unlock credit to the private sector.

One billion shillings was allocated for settling dues owed to sugar cane farmers.

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