https://www.standardmedi...sgr-takes-up-more-funds
China’s debt ballooned to Sh650 billion in 12 months to June 2019 after the country raked up more loans from Beijing to fund the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).
Kenya chalked up an extra Sh97 billion from the Asian nation during this period. The loans included Sh44.7 billion for the second phase of the SGR from Nairobi to Naivasha and a Sh35.2 billion instalment for the first phase of the railway from Mombasa to Nairobi.
This saw China’s stock of debt climb up from Sh553 billion as of June 2018, even as the world’s second-largest economy cemented its position as Kenya’s leading bilateral lender.
Japan, whose debt stock increased by Sh49 billion to reach Sh132.2 billion, remains a distant second.
During this period, the World Bank’s debt increased by nearly a similar value to China’s to hit Sh607.2 billion. This is after the global lender approved a $750 million (Sh75 billion) loan to Kenya for budget support towards the end of the 2018/19 financial year.
Meanwhile, Kenya’s stock of expensive loans rose to 36 per cent of the total debt, from 24 per cent in June 2016. However, the fraction of cheap loans from multilateral institutions such as the World Bank declined from 45 per cent three years ago to 30 per cent.
Commercial loans crossed the trillion-mark after the country successfully issued its third Eurobond, a dollar-denominated sovereign bond, from which it raised Sh210 billion.
Treasury borrowed Sh770 billion in the 2018/19 financial year that ended in June against an initial target of Sh635.5 billion, or 6.3 per cent of the GDP, as increased wages and interest on loans forced the country back into the debt market.
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