Kenya’s Annual Debt Repayment Figure Set to Hit 618.5 Billion Shillings

The ever-growing Kenyan debt is set to see Kenyans repaying 618.5 billion shillings come next year, approximately 40 percent of public revenue.

In 2016, the Treasury spent 446.4 billion shillings in payment of public debt with 2017 seeing an increase of 38.5 percent. Beginning July 2017, according to the Division of Revenue Bill, the government will spend KES 172Bn more to service loans as compared to what has been spent this year.

The increase in debt next year means that the Kenyan taxpayer is in for a hard time as he will have to dig deeper into their pockets to service the national loans. During the 2016/2017 national budget, the national Treasury, upon releasing the more than two-trillion budget, said that the budget was in deficit of more than 700 billion shillings which had to be borrowed both locally and internationally.

The government, through the National Treasury is already in the process of acquiring another Eurobond loan from the international market. The leader of the opposition Raila Odinga, had called on the creditors not to release the loan before knowing how the initial loan was spent. Mystery still surrounds the use of more than 100 billion shillings which was part of the Eurobond which Kenyans are now paying for.

The national debt under the Jubilee government has been growing with each coming day. At some point, according to the International Monetary Fund, every Kenyan owed the world more than 70,000 shillings. The Jubilee government has defended its borrowing spree saying that the cash is aimed at driving developmental projects in the country including major infrastructure projects, especially the Standard Gauge Railway which is ongoing.

The Treasury insists that Kenya is in a good position to borrow more both locally and from the international community with the burden of paying the same being transferred to the common man in the streets.

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