In the financial year ending June 30, 2020, Kenya’s total public debt went up by Ksh840.9 billion to Ksh6.65 trillion.
According to the latest data from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), Kenya’s external debt stands at Ksh3.49 trillion while the domestic debt stood at Ksh3.15 trillion.
Factoring in Kenya’s population of 47,564,296, Ksh6.65 Trillion translates to each citizen owing creditors at least Ksh139,705 against a per capita (per person) income of Ksh204,831. This also means that for every Ksh100 that you earn, at least Ksh68 belongs to foreign and local creditors.
Also worth noting is that when the Uhuru-Ruto-led Jubilee regime took over in 2013, for every Ksh100 that a Kenyan earned, only Ksh40 belonged to creditors.
Meanwhile, National Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani has insisted that there is no cause for alarm, even as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reviewed the Kenya’s risk to debt distress from moderate to high, citing debt vulnerabilities occasioned by Covid-19.
“Our debt limit has been quite sustainable. We have never defaulted on any payment that has fallen due,” said Yatani.
“We want to be more pro-active by making sure that we retire all the commercial loans
