Kenya Planning to Raise $2.27 Billion Through Offshore Bonds

Kenya released its “The Medium Term Debt Strategy (MTDS)” policy document that guides government borrowing and public debt management in which it indicated that the sovereign is veering away from domestic borrowing towards external debt. The nation seeks to raise $2.27bn over the next one year through foreign debt as it seeks to tap the global hunt for yield to finance its budget. The treasury is likely to raise KES 123.8bn ($1.13bn) in the next 4 months and another KES 124.3bn ($1.14bn) during the fiscal year starting in July with an aim to maintain a foreign-to-domestic net borrowing ratio of 57:43 till 2024 vs. 21:79 in the past fiscal year. It also hopes to raise KES 82.5bn ($754.5mn) from the World bank and another KES 78.8bn (720.7mn) from the IMF. It had also held talks with China on a debt-service suspension last month. Kenya has debt of KES 7.28tn ($66.58bn) as of December 2020, ~65.6% of its GDP. The present stance of the government is different from the previous MTDS 2020 in which it was cautious on taking on foreign debt. According to Yvonne Mhango, head of sub-Saharan economic research at Renaissance Capital, “It is a good time to issue a Eurobond, as there is certainly appetite for higher-yielding debt, … Given the stretched fiscal finances, concessional loans would be a more affordable and sustainable source of financing.”