The National Assembly has given the National Treasury a green light to to increase the country’s debt ceiling to KSh 10 trillion.
The country’s debt ceiling is currently at KSh 9 trillion.
The lower House approved the Public Finance Management (National Government) Regulations 2015 which is now headed to the Senate for concurrence.
In a gazette notice on May 26, Treasury CS Ukur Yatani asked MPs to amend the PFM regulations act to increase the debt limit.
If the Senate approves the same, this will give the Treasury CS room to borrow more to finance the KSh 3.33 trillion budget for the 2022/23 financial year.
The regulations were enacted in 2019 and will only finance the 2022/23 budget and the medium term.
As earlier reported on WoK, Kenya’s debt towards China-funded infrastructure projects have increased by a record KSh 73.48 billion amid an increased clearance of principal sums.
This places the country’s debt to China at KSh 1.4 trillion.
According to the expenditure data published by the Treasury, the amount of money paid to Chinese lender increased by 135.15 percent compared with KSh 31.25 billion in June 2021.
The Citizen reported that the money was wired to Exim Bank of China and China Development Bank in two batches.
The first batch of KSh 43.62 billion was wired around January 2021 and the second batch of KSh 29.86 billion in July 2021.
The repayments to Chinese lenders accounted for 81.4 percent of the KSh 260 million that the Treasury spent on servicing bilateral debt in the nine-month period through March.
