STORY: Kenya launches medium-term economic plan
SHOOTING TIME: March 21, 2024
DATELINE: March 23, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:12
LOCATION: Nairobi
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of launch of medium-term economic plan

STORYLINE:

Kenyan President William Ruto on Thursday launched a medium-term plan that seeks to accelerate the country's quest to become a middle-income industrialized country.
   
Ruto said Medium-Term Plan IV 2023-2027 focuses on the country's economic growth, especially at the grassroots.
   
"Through this plan, we will spearhead radical economic turnaround, fostering inclusive growth and enhancing the livelihoods and welfare of citizens, particularly those at the bottom of the economic pyramid," Ruto said during the launch in Nairobi, Kenya's capital.
  
Under the program, he said, Kenya would seek to create more than 1.2 million jobs every year for the youth to boost economic growth.
   
In the transport sector, Ruto said, his government would build over 6,000 km of new roads and 277 footbridges to enhance mobility.
   
He said climate change remains one of the biggest threats to the country's economic development, and Kenya would prioritize investments to build resilience, including through the construction of water pans in arid and semi-arid areas to support irrigation farming and boost agricultural productivity.
   
Kenya would also invest more in renewable energy projects and connect over 2.3 million Kenyan households with electricity, the president said.
   
The government would build 100,000 km of fiber-optic cable to boost internet access and grow the digital economy, Ruto said.
   
Kenya would expand social health insurance, aiming to reach over 10.8 million households and digitize health services, he said.
   
Kenya's economy grew 5 percent in 2023, up from 4.8 percent recorded in 2022.
   
The International Monetary Fund and Kenya's National Treasury project the economy to grow by 5.5 percent in 2024.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Nairobi.
(XHTV)