Uhuru’s Government to Borrow Sh 2.5 Billion Daily Until June 2022

Key Facts:

• Treasury plans to borrow Sh1.87 trillion in the two years to June 2022 or Sh2.5 billion daily, pushing Kenya’s debt to Sh8.06 trillion.
• The Jubilee administration will have sank the country into Sh 6.1trillion for Mr. Kenyatta’s 10-year rule, having inherited only Sh 1.6 trillion from the Kibaki administration.

Critical Quote: “Given the current and projected expenditure demands, it is estimated that the Kenyan debt stock could reach Sh9.2 trillion in FY 2022/23”

Details have emerged that President Kenyatta led administration will borrow an average of Sh 2.5 billion daily before the end of his term in August 2022.

According to Business Daily which first reported the details on Wednesday, September 16, 2020, “treasury chiefs project in a draft Budget Review and Outlook Paper new loans of Sh1.87 trillion in the two years to June 2022 or Sh2.5 billion daily, pushing Kenya’s debt to Sh8.06 trillion.”

Should this happen, the Jubilee administration will have sank the country into Sh 6.1 trillion for Mr. Kenyatta’s 10-year rule.

Before assuming power in June 2013, Mr. Kenyatta inherited only Sh 1.6 trillion from the Kibaki administration.

Of the new loans, 60% will be used for debt repayments.

The rising appetite for debt has caused alarm with the Parliamentary Budget Office saying underperformance in revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic is may drive Kenya’s debt beyond the Sh9.0 trillion legal threshold in 2023, a year after Mr. Kenyatta leaves power.

“The impact of Covid-19 on the economy is expected to adversely affect revenue generation. Given the current and projected expenditure demands, it is estimated that the Kenyan debt stock could reach Sh9.2 trillion in FY 2022/23.”