Kenya will not default on its debt
Kenya will not default on its debt, President William Ruto said on Wednesday. This country of ours will not default. I want to give you my assurance. Our country will not default on our...

NAIROBI, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Kenya will not default on its
debt, President William Ruto said on Wednesday. "This country of ours will not default. I want to give you
my assurance. Our country will not default on our obligations.
We have applied (the) brakes on any more borrowing," he said in
a joint interview with Kenyan media houses. Ruto's government, which took over in September, has
said it plans to cut expensive commercial borrowing in favour of
cheaper sources like the World Bank to reduce debt servicing
pressures. Like other frontier economies, Kenya found it almost
impossible to raise funds from international bond markets in
2022 due to a surge in yields. It was forced to cancel in June the planned issuance of
a second Eurobond for the last financial year and is now seeking
alternative sources of funding. In February last year, Fitch said rising government debt
levels and global interest rates were increasing the risk of
credit rating downgrades in as many as 10 African countries,
with Kenya, Ghana, Lesotho, Namibia, Rwanda and Uganda most at
threat.
(Reporting by George Obulutsa
Editing by Alexander Winning)