Kenya to spend $4.6 billion of revenue on paying debt
Kenya’s domestic borrowing appetite that will see it pay $3.69 billion in redemptions and interest in the new financial year spells doom for the hopes of a fall in interest rates, as financial institutions who consider government debt risk-free continue to show appetite. TEA GRAPHIC
Kenya proposes to spend $4.66 billion on public debt repayments in the financial year starting June, effectively locking 20 per cent of budget expenditure into debt repayment and putting the country’s hopes of a lower inflation and interest rate regime in doubt.
At the start of the current financial year, Kenya’s debt was the highest in the region at $31.6 billion, with more than 60 per cent of it being domestic, while Tanzania’s national debt stock peaked at $19.14 billion, with 80 per cent of this in external debt.
