The Kenyan government has budgeted approximately $125.3 million to support projects in the Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT) sector during the 2024/2025 financial year.
Kenya’s national treasury minister, Njuguna Ndung’u, announced the details in Parliament on Thursday.
The funds will be used to fund a number of government projects overseen by the ICT ministry, including $8.5 million for government shared services, $5.4 million for a digital superhighway, and $17.7 million for the Kenya Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Konza Technopolis.
To expedite the building of Konza Technopolis City, the government has provided $11.5 million for Horizontal Infrastructure Phase I and $40 million for Konza Data Centre and Smart City Facilities, the minister said.
A further $21.6 million has been allocated to help Kenya’s Digital Economy Acceleration Project, as well as $21.6 million for the maintenance and rehabilitation of the Last Mile County Connectivity Network.
Ndung’u said: “Investment in digital superhighway and creative economy continues to play a critical role in enabling the government to achieve the objectives of the bottom-up economic transformation agenda through increased productivity and competitiveness.”
The minister added that these investments continue to generate job opportunities for young people.
The government’s digital loans project Hustler Fund has also received an allocation of $38.4 million.
This is despite the fact that the kitty has accumulated $76.8 million in defaults since its launch in 2022.
The allocation is almost 50% lower than last year, when the government announced a $76.8 million investment to the fund.
The fund was established to increase financial access to responsible finance for individuals, micro, small, and medium-sized businesses.