Kenya has allocated KSh471 million to the stalled cooking gas subsidy scheme for the new financial year starting July, with the amount set to be raised to KSh820 million in the next financial year.
This marks a 203% rise compared with the current financial year where KSh155 million had been allocated.
In a draft budget released last year, the National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani included a plan to distribute 300,000 six-kilogramme LPG cylinders to low-income households over the next three years.
Under the initial cooking gas subsidy scheme, beneficiaries were to pay a discounted price of KSh2,000, in three years, for the burner and cylinder, with refills capped at KSh840 at the time.
Presently, the 13kg cylinder retails at KSh3,400 from KSh2,250 in June before the government imposed the 16% VAT at the start of the current financial year. The six-kilogramme cylinder is retailing at KSh1,600 from KSh900 in June.
The Ministry of Energy initiated the cooking gas subsidy scheme during the 2016/2017 financial year, seeking to cut reliance on environment-unfriendly kerosene and charcoal that are largely used in most rural and urban poor households.
However, the implementation was hampered by some suppliers providing faulty cylinders and distribution challenges at the State-owned National Oil Corporation (Nock), which was to drive the programme.
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