Treasury receives Sh82.4bn syndicated loan funds

Kenya has signed an $800 million syndicated loan with four international lenders and the government has already drawn down the sum, a senior Treasury official said on Monday

President Uhuru Kenyatta, who faces re-election in August, has raised borrowing since taking power in April 2013. Last week, he dismissed criticism of the higher borrowing, saying it was funding development in the East African nation.

In January, the Nairobi government picked Standard Chartered, Standard Bank, Citi and Rand Merchant Bank to lead the syndicated loan.

“We signed and have already drawn down,” Kamau Thugge, principal secretary at the ministry of finance, told Reuters.

A market source earlier told Reuters the deal was signed last Thursday. The terms were not immediately known.

Kenya has said it will raise 150 billion shillings ($1.46 billion) from external commercial sources, partly to plug a fiscal deficit equal to 9.7 percent of gross domestic product in its budget for the fiscal year to June 2017.