Amid unrest in Kenya due to debt distress it is reported that the country has spent 15269 billion KES about 1 billion USD to repay debt to China in the just

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Amid unrest in Kenya due to debt distress, it is reported that the country has spent 152.69 billion KES (about 1 billion USD) to repay debt to China in the just-ended financial year, highlighting the burden on taxpayers in servicing loans taken to build a modern railway and other infrastructure projects, according to a report by Business Daily.

  • The total amount paid represents a 42.14 per cent jump over the 107.42 billion KES paid in the previous year, ending June 2023, according to disclosures by the Kenyan Treasury.

  • According to research lan AidData, “The terms of Beijing’s loan deals with developing countries are usually secretive and require borrowing from nations such as Kenya to prioritise repayment of Chinese state-owned banks ahead of other creditors.”

  • Based on analysis of loan agreements between 2000 and 2019, AidData suggested that Chinese deals have clauses for “more elaborate repayment safeguards” than its “peers in the official credit market.”