this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2024
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Kenya's foreign exchange reserves decline sharply due to foreign debt repayments, particularly to China (www.businessdailyafrica.com)
submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Cross posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/15214106

Archived version

  • Kenya’s foreign exchange reserves have experienced a significant drop of USD 487 million (about KES 63.9 billion) over the past week, following substantial repayments of external debt.

  • The decrease in reserves follows the government’s repayment of USD 533 million (about KES 70 billion) in external loans, which includes USD 433 million (KES 56.8 billion) used to service a loan from China.

  • The reduction has decreased the import cover from 4.1 months to 3.9 months. Import cover refers to the number of months the available foreign exchange reserves can finance imports.

  • Previous reports indicated that Kenya had spent KES 152.69 billion (approximately USD 1.15 billion) repaying China in the last fiscal year This included USD 705.05 million (KES 100.47 billion) in principal repayment and USD 366.46 million (KES 52.22 billion) in interest.

  • Additionally, Kenya paid USD 286.04 million (KES 40.76 billion) more than initially planned for the fiscal year.

  • The secretive nature of Beijing’s loan terms with developing countries like Kenya often means borrowers must prioritise repayments to China, placing a considerable burden on the Kenyan public.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Kenya is a cautionary tale for any state which is considering China's ~~investments~~ predatory loans.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Exactly! They should prefer the predatory loans of the IMF instead...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

@neutronst4r, there is a lot wrong with the IMF, but the sad truth is that China's Belt and Road is much worse. It's loans come at much worse conditions than those granted by the IMF/World Bank system.