Kenya is set to receive KSh 19.8 billion loans from the the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The loans are meant for budgetary support and agriculture in a bid to to help the economy to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The funds are also expected to boost the economy amid the Russia-Ukraine war.
“We shall provide $100 million budget support to Kenya for this year to help rebuild
“There will also another $70 million support for fertiliser and seeds since the Russia-Ukraine crisis has heavily affected the agri-based economy,” Nnenna Lily Nwabufo, AfDB director-general for East Africa said in an interview in Ghana.
This comes at a time when 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.
