A plan by Kenya to borrow about $750 million (about Sh76.98 billion under the prevailing exchange rate) through a syndicated loan is on track, a senior National Treasury official said yesterday, dismissing concerns about delays in the process. The government picked Standard Chartered of the UK, South Africa's Standard Bank, Citi and Rand Merchant Bank to lead the loan back in January. Banking sources in Nairobi told Reuters a plan to sign and issue the mandate for the loan last month had been postponed. No change of mind," Kamau Thugge, principal secretary at the Treasury, told Reuters when asked to comment on the loan. The East African nation said it would raise Sh150 billion from external commercial sources, to partly plug a fiscal deficit equivalent 9.7 per cent of gross domestic product in its year to June 2017 budget.

Source: The Star March 07, 2017 21:32 UTC