We have stabilized the economy, reduced cost of living - Ruto's Cabinet says

President William Ruto's Cabinet has gone on the defensive following scathing criticism of the government's performance in addressing key issues affecting Kenyans.

Hours after the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops accused his administration of perpetuating a culture of lies in matters such as settling debt owed to hospitals run by faith-based organisations, the government responded by stating that it had disbursed Ksh.5 billion had been to hospitals in the past month.

Amid headlines of massive layoffs due to the high cost of doing business locally, the Cabinet also highlighted that 100,000 Kenyans have secured jobs abroad.

Reeling from the blow dealt by the church over the Executive and Parliament's performance in addressing issues that matter to Kenyans, Thursday's Cabinet briefing sought to paint a picture of economic recovery under the Kenya Kwanza administration.

"Things are not bad. Global economy is growing at 3%. Kenyan economy grew 5.6% last year, this year 5% next year 5.4%," Treasury Cabinet Secretary (CS) John Mbadi told the Finance Committee of the National Assembly.

The Cabinet pointed to various positive economic indicators, such as inflation, which stood at 2.7% last month — the lowest rate since 2007.

"Consequently, the prices of various types of food, particularly maize, beans, and peas, have decreased over the past year. A 2kg packet of maize, which was retailing at KSh176 a year ago, is now selling at KSh124," a dispatch from Cabinet reads in part.

They also highlighted the success of the subsidized fertilizer program as another example of positive progress, which they claimed would prevent the importation of sugar this year.

The exchange rate was also included as another indicator of Kenya's positive economic outlook,, with the Kenyan shilling trading at an average of 129 shillings to the dollar.

"9.5 billion USD in forex reserves for the first time in Kenya's history," said Mbadi.

Despite the Cabinet's best efforts to paint a rosy picture, its message stands in contrast to that of David Ndii, economic advisor to the president.

In response to mass layoffs, Ndii posted on social media: "What do all these companies have in common? They all serve a small elite market. I'm not going to sugar coat this. If your customer base is suburban lifestyle... things will get worse before they get better."

"We must pay pending bills to ensure Kenyans have money in their pockets. High interest rates, are coming down which will allow private sectors to have a lot of money & ensure free flow of liquid cash," Mbadi said before the Cabinet.

Even as the Cabinet boasted of tax collections growing by double digits, the Treasury Cabinet Secretary urged caution, in line with the church's recent statement on the same.

"We must reduce our taxes for our economy to grow, more so direct taxation," he said.