Kenya Cuts Dollar Debt After Converting Chinese Loans to Yuan

Exterior of Kenya's National Treasury headquarters in Nairobi. Yasuyoshi CHIBA / AFP

The Kenyan government is moving quickly to diversify its debt portfolio to reduce its reliance on dollar-denominated loans, with the total amount of outstanding USD debt falling 8.5% year-on-year to just 53.2%, according to new National Treasury data.

A big reason for the sizable drop since last year is the conversion of $3.5 billion, still owed to the China Exim Bank, into Chinese yuan for the construction of the Standard Gauge Railway.

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by Eric Olander

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