Tax Increases, Higher Spending Plans on East Africa Budget Cards

East African finance ministers will need to strike a balance between burdening their already heavily indebted nations with more loans and boosting their economies pounded by heavy rains and flooding when they present their spending plans on Thursday.

Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi have already signaled that they will increase expenditure funded by fresh borrowings and taxes to bolster their economies.

Kenya, which is considered at high risk of debt distress, plans to collect taxes aggressively to narrow its budget deficit to a 15-year low. Uganda will borrow more from domestic markets after the World Bank froze fresh concessional funding, ...