Broadcast Media Africa has learnt that the Kenyan government has allocated approximately US$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 several government projects overseen by the ICT ministry, including US$8.5 million for government-shared services, US$5.4 million for a digital superhighway, and US$17.7 million for the Kenya Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Konza Technopolis.
The minister said the government has provided US$11.5 million for Horizontal Infrastructure Phase I and US$40 million for Konza Data Centre and Smart City Facilities to expedite the building of Konza Technopolis City.
A further US$21.6 million has been allocated to help Kenya’s Digital Economy Acceleration Project and to maintain and rehabilitate 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 US$38.4 million.
This is even though the kitty has accumulated US$76.8 million in defaults since its launch in 2022.
The allocation is almost 50% lower than last year when the government announced a US$76.8 million investment in the fund.
The fund was established to increase financial access to responsible finance for individuals and micro, small, and medium-sized businesses.
