Kenya Approaches World Bank for $750m Loan

• Kenya Approaches World Bank for $750m Loan

Following the recently approved loan by the People’s Republic of China, Kenya has once again approached the World Bank for yet another loan for budgetary support, the lender revealed on Tuesday.

The East African nation is requesting for $750 million loan to fund capital projects despite having multiple funding programmes worth billions of dollars with the same lender.

Last month, Kenya secured a $666 million loan from China to build a data center in Konza tech city and a highway in Nairobi.

Earlier this month, the nation raised another $2.1 billion in a sovereign bond.

Since President Uhuru Kenyatta came to power in 2013, Kenya’s public debt to gross domestic product (GDP) has risen from 42 percent to 55 percent. Forcing experts within and outside the country to caution the administration on aggressive borrowing as it would weigh on future growth.

A few weeks ago, Kenya’s Finance Minister, Henry Rotich, said he was working on how to reduce debt servicing costs in the next few years to 12-16 percent. However, with the new loan, that doesn’t seem realistic.