Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Principal Secretary Susan Mang’eni says the government is considering possible collaboration with insurance companies to cushion private sector players from losses due to violent protests.
This follows revelations that the Kenyan economy loses an estimated Ksh 3 billion every day due to countrywide violent protests.
Business owners in at least 25 counties woke up on Thursday to find rows upon rows of vandalized premises leading to losses running into millions with some businesses staring at imminent closure. This was the aftermath of the June 25th protest which was organized to mark anniversary of last year’s protest.
And because of this, Kenya is bulking with high number of businesses that are sinking and shuttering the operations.
The government says, these violent protests are leading to huge losses amounting to billions of shillings every day, with the MSMEs being the worst affected.
To minimize the impact on investments, government is considering a raft of interventions among them collaboration with underwriters.
However, this is likely to pose a challenge with data from the insurance regulator indicating that over 60pc of MSMEs are not insured.
Mang’eni said the government will further facilitate the registration of MSMEs for better coordination and support.
On the other hand Banks are anticipating an increase in nonperforming loans in the coming months following destruction of businesses and property across 25 counties.
