Kenya’s Appetite for Chinese Loans May Finally be Starting to Wane

During a meeting last week with Yang Jiechi, Chinese president Xi Jinping’s special envoy for Africa and one of Beijing’s most senior foreign policy officials, Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta gave one of the first indications that the mounting pressure over his country’s rising debt levels may be having an impact. The Kenyan president told the Chinese emissary that he wants the China’s private sector to become more focused on investing in Kenya and for the Chinese market to be more accessible to Kenyan exporters.

Yang and other Chinese officials are likely quite receptive to this message from Kenyatta and other African leaders given the pressures in Beijing to focus more on their investment in Africa on projects that are financially feasible.