Kenya seeks to roll over $760m loan and cut its budget deficit
‘It is just a rolling over of the syndicated loan. There is no new debt’
Nairobi — Kenya is in talks with lenders to roll over a $760m syndicated loan this fiscal year and lengthen its maturity in order to make debt repayments more manageable, a senior treasury official says. . The loan, which was initially for two years, was arranged by TDB bank, said Kamau Thugge, the principal secretary at the ministry of finance. The government aims to increase the tenor of the loan to seven or 10 years, he said, adding that it has not yet struck an agreement with lenders whom he did not identify. “We will be going back to the international market to lengthen the maturities of the debts that are falling due. It does not increase our debt,” Thugge said. “It is just a rolling over of the syndicated loan. We are just rolling it over. There is no new debt.” New Eurobond? The government is, however, considering issuing a new Eurobond at a later date, part of efforts to raise 272-billion shillings ($2.65bn) in net external financing that is contained in 2018’s budget. “Tha...
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