The national cabinet has approved a Sh. 1.8 billion bailout for troubled Uchumi Supermarket.
The amount was approved during a meeting held at State House on Thursday last week. The retailer had earlier on requested for a sh. 1.2 billion cash injection.
“The management at Uchumi has reduced from 40 to 20 branches, and cut on several casual jobs as they seek to stabilise and return to vibrancy and we are committed to holding their hand in this process,” said the Industrialisatio cabinet secretary Adan Mohamed. He further attributed the current troubles facing Uchumi to the previous management that was led by Jonathan Ciano.
“The business is indebted to its suppliers due to poor previous management and the options for Uchumi was to renegotiate with lenders for the loans they had, sell some of its property or borrow from government.”
