Kenya should seal tax loopholes: IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has given Kenya tough conditions for accessing credit. Most notable is that the budget deficit must be trimmed by up to 3 per cent for the country to get an emergency loan from IMF.

Though the government tries as much as it can to spend from its own tax coffers, tax collection falls short, hence the deficit. IMF is telling Kenya that it can do better. Even as it strives to collect more from taxes, it should check its debt level which has been balloning. It should also slash its recurrent expenditure on salaries and other emoluments. However, people need not lose jobs for there to be great savings.