China Displaces World Bank as Kenya's Largest Creditor
China has displaced World Bank to become Kenya's single largest foreign creditor.
Figures now show that China accounts for 72 per cent of the total debt owed to foreign lenders by Kenya.
In a period of about one decade, the Kenyan government has borrowed Sh534 billion from China compared to Sh508 billion owed to the World Bank.
Currently, Kenya's local and international debt stands at a whopping Sh5.011 trillion with the government spending 54 per cent of revenue collected in the 2018/19 financial year to repayment of debts.
Local and international experts, including International Monetary Fund (IMF) have warned that Kenya's soaring debt could reach a point where it will not be manageable.
“We have been much concerned about the flow of new debts and the size of fiscal deficit. It will reach a point where the debt is not manageable especially when the deficit continues to rise,” IMF representatives for Kenya Jan Mikkelsen said earlier this year.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich has however maintained that Kenya's debt is sustainable.
“We are able to comfortably repay our debt without being insolvent. As long as we are able to repay this debt without consuming a huge chunk of our revenues in terms of servicing it, our debt is viewed as sustainable,” Rotich said recently.
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Bravo Bravo Mr Uhuru the…
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Bravo Bravo Mr Uhuru the king of Africa the president we waited for long.Borrow n borrow upto 90% as long as the cash borrowed build roads,railways,ports,mega dams,24/7 economy electricity for everybody,industries,manufacturing etc.Usa today is surviving or it is where it is because of heavy borrowing (their borrowing has reached to 200%) meaning even the 2rd child who is not born still owes 8000$.UK today is crawling of debt no wonder they brexited.Japan,Malaysia’s,Singapore have borrowed heavily to b where they are.As a bizness mogul in my farming/rentals I applaud my president.Borrowing is a must if we want our country to b better than the WEST.Kenyans r stuck in USA,Uk,Canada,Australia paying mzungu taxes n they have called this places home coz of good infrastructure in them which they are paying heavily every paycheck yet they r building another country n economy so as Kenyans in Kenya Wr ready to pay for taxes n this loans aslong as we can see them.We have seen Thika superhighway,Lappset port,sgr,Southern bypass,eastern bypass,waiyaki way rironi expansion underway,Western bypass via wangige to Nairobi coming up n many more so bring it on mr President.
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