Despite running his presidential campaigns on an anti-public debt agenda, President William Ruto has veered off his campaign script and is keen on pilling the debt, borrowing over 500B on his first 100 days in office.
A spot check by this publication reveals the Kenya Kwanza Administration has so far accumulated loans worth 538.7B.
On November 9th, the IMF expressed its confidence in Kenya’s debt management strategy and agreed to disburse a 52.7B loan to the government.
On November 23rd, President William Ruto announced Kenya is set to benefit from a KES 369.9 billion ($3 billion) program from African Export-Import (Afrexim) Bank.
This was announced during a meeting between President William Ruto and Prof Benedict Okey Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the African Export-Import Bank.
While on a tour to South Korea last month, the president secured a Sh120 billion ($1 billion) loan from South Korea to support various development projects. The funds will go to health, ICT and agriculture programs, technical training, and vocational education, the Sagana Industrial Park, affordable housing, energy, infrastructure, and urban transport, Mombasa’s Dongo Kundu and Naivasha special economic zones.
William Ruto fiercely criticized Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration for heavy borrowing and pledged to cut Kenya’s public debt by reducing borrowing and improving tax revenue. However, mounting pressure is pushing the government to take out more loans, making it harder for the president to live up to his promises.
