Unlike previous Government that had invested heavily in subsidies, making Kenyan citizens less in touch with the reality, President William Ruto has chosen a seemingly tough approach to managing the country public debt and the obvious internationally felt high cost of living. His government has said no to subsidizing consumption. 

This is a sharp contrast to the first quarter of 2022/23 financial year, during which the government had already splashed Sh43.91 billion on subsidies on maize flour, fuel, electricity, and fertiliser.

But the consequences of the subsidy withdrawal are already being felt by consumers, especially through historic high fuel prices which have pushed up inflation over the past year.

Fuel inflation slightly increased to contribute 2.2 percentage points to year-on-year overall inflation in September 2023 from a contribution of 2.1 percentage points in September 2022.