Kenya borrowed Ksh.3.2B daily between July 2020 and June 2021: report

The government of Kenya took loans equivalent to Ksh.3.2 billion daily between July 2020 and June this year.

This is according data from the National Treasury statement of actual revenues and net exchequer issues for the fiscal year closing June 30, that is yet to be publicized but seen by Citizen Digital.

During the period which represents the 2020-2021 financial year cycle, Kenya took out loans totaling to Ksh.1.174 trillion.

Of the sum total, Ksh.796.4 billion represents locally borrowed funds inclusive of rollovers with domestic borrowing surging by 35.2 per cent from the prior financial year.

Meanwhile external loans and grants topped Ksh.377.1 billion having grown by 25.8 per cent from Ksh.299.7 billion previously.

The Ksh.3.2 billion daily loans have seen Kenya’s stock of public debt continue to grow unabated amidst concerns by not just the public but also the country’s development partners such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Additional data from the exchequer and the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) shows the stock of public debt reached Ksh.7.7 billion at the end of June fuelled by heightened borrowing following the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The size of public and publicly guaranteed external debt now stands at Ksh.4.1 trillion while domestic debt rounds off to Ksh.3.7 trillion at present.

In contrast, Kenya borrowed a cumulative Ksh.888.6 billion in the 2019-2020 financial year rounding off to Ksh.2.4 billion daily loans across the previous fiscal cycle.

In the current financial year, the government is expected to borrow a total of Ksh.1.388 trillion translating to daily loan amounts of about Ksh.3.8 billion.