Nairobi — The government has dropped the proposed 16 percent levy on bread following the Kenya Kwanza Parliamentary Group meeting chaired by President William Ruto in State House Nairobi.

Finance and Planning Committee chairperson Kimani Kuria, in an address to the press, said the decision was reached following a series of public participations in which Kenyans unanimously rejected the new tax.

"We have listened to the views of Kenyans, and we are all in agreement that there are two things that we must do, and one of them is that we need to protect Kenyans from the high cost of living, and therefore the proposed 16 percent VAT on bread has been dropped," said Kuria.

Kuria had earlier received backlash from Kenyans following his assertion that the levy on bread was to shield Kenyans from the risk of diabetes.

"We had a very long conversation with the Treasury. The initial thinking was that there is concern about diabetes."

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung'u had earlier presented the 2024-2025 budget to parliament, seeking to scale up taxation in its Medium-Term Revenue Strategy.

This targeted an array of products, including edible oils, as well as an eco-levy on all plastic products.

Already, lobby groups as well as a section of Kenyans have staged protests in the capital, Nairobi, with a planned sit-in in parliament buildings ahead of the tabling of the bill on the floor of the house.