Kenya can repay a $2 billion Eurobond due later this year, thanks to funding from foreign institutions, its central bank chief said Wednesday.
The East African nation is sitting on public debts of around $61.5 billion - equal to around 67% of gross domestic product - with servicing costs ballooning because of the sharp drop in the value of the local currency.
Central Bank of Kenya Governor Kamau Thugge had acknowledged concerns about the country's ability to repay the 10-year Eurobond when it matures in June.
"We have the resources, the money that is coming i n from the World Bank, from regional institutions, from multilateral institutions," he told a press conference in Nairobi.
'Risk eliminated'
"This risk of the eurobond will in my view be completely eliminated."
He said repayment of the bond should also "help contribute to a strengthening of the shilling".
The local currency has slumped by about 29 percent against the dollar over the past year alone, currently hovering around all-time lows of 160 to the greenback.
The shilling's slide has increased the costs of Kenya's imports, leading to higher prices in a country where already many of its 53 million people live in poverty.
Ruto taxes
President William Ruto was elected in 2022 on a pledge to help ordinary Kenyans but has raised taxes and cut subsidies as part of a campaign to slash debt and "wasteful" government expenditure.
In a move to curb still-rising inflation, the central bank on Tuesday hiked interest rates by 50 basis points to 12.5%, the highest level in almost 12 years.
Inflation rose to 6.9% in January from 6.6% the previous month, and Thugge said it remained "sticky" at the high end of the government's target range.
But the central bank said the economy was continuing to show a "strong performance" and estimated that GDP grew 5.6 percent last year after 4.8 percent in 2022.
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