Kenya’s National Treasury data shows the proportion of external debt denominated in the euro stood at 18.8 percent in the same month, 4.1 percent in yen, 5.3 percent in yuan, and 2.3 percent in pounds sterling while currencies accounted for 0.2 per cent of the total external debt. External debt loadThe dollar was trading at a mean of Ksh122.94 Thursday compared to a mean of Ksh113.17 at the start of the year, a rise of 8.6 percent, increasing Kenya’s external debt load. Advertisement“Overall, the national government’s external debt stock increased by Ksh24.78 billion ($201.4 million) from Ksh4,334.79 billion ($35.2 million) in September 2022 to Ksh4,359.57 billion ($35.4 million) in October 2022. The domestic debt stock stood at Ksh4.38 trillion ($35.6 billion) (31.2 percent of GDP), while the external debt stock was Ksh4.35 trillion ($35.4 billion) (31.1 percent of GDP). “The government is currently exercising currency diversification with an aim of mitigating the exchange rate risk on external debt,” said the Kenyan Treasury.

Source: Daily Nation December 16, 2022 12:03 UTC