IMF: Kenya risks Eurobond access over debt pile up
Wednesday January 06 2021
By OTIATO GUGUYU
Summary
The IMF’s latest assessment of Kenya’s debt sustainability shows the country is likely to breach the threshold over the next decade going by the level of external loans against the value of dollar-earning exports, tax revenues and gross domestic product (GDP).
Official data shows that Kenya’s debt stood at 69.2 percent of the GDP in August 2020, having climbed from 61.7 percent at the end of 2019 and 50.2 percent at the end of 2015.
The IMF warning comes barely a month after Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani told Parliament that Kenya expects to return to the Eurobond market in 2024 to refinance Sh130billion ($1.2billion) maturing bonds it borrowed in 2014.