How return of Capital Gains Tax will raise cost of shares, property

Nairobi securities Exchange (NSE) trading floor.  [PHOTO BY BEVERLYNE MUSIKL/STANDARD]

Kenya: The cost of selling shares at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has gone up by five per cent after the National Treasury reintroduced the Capital Gains Tax (CGT).

Although sources in the Government who asked not to be named said Treasury hopes to raise Sh7.5 billion from the CGT, market players at the NSE are worried that it will have a negative long-term effect on trading, something the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury, Mr Henry Rotich, was at pains to dispel yesterday.