Wu Peng, the top diplomat for Africa in China’s Foreign Ministry, denied that Kenya missed a payment on its Standard Gauge Railway loan. Wu Peng is the Director-General of African Affairs in the Foreign Ministry. His comment was a rare intervention from the Ministry in a loan controversy.
“Recently in Kenya, they said that China has slapped some fines for defaulting on Chinese SGR loan. It is not true,” Wu told African journalists in Beijing. He referred to a recent article in the Kenyan newspaper Business Daily purporting to show a document proving that the Exim Bank of China hit Kenya with a $10.8 million fine for a payment delay.
The Kenyan Treasury denied the allegation: “We wish to state categorically that Kenya has never defaulted on its settlement of its debt service obligations to any of its creditors,” said Ukur Yatani, the National Treasury Cabinet Secretary, in a statement.
Takeaways from Wu Peng’s Loan Comments:
- POLITICAL: The fact that Wu weighed in on the repayment issue at all shows that it has moved from a loan-related problem to a political one. Signaling alignment between Beijing and Kenya’s newly elected President William Ruto and avoiding perceptions that China is pressuring Kenya as it faces a debt crisis seem to underlie the comments.
- NO SPECIFICS: It’s notable that neither the Foreign Ministry nor Kenya’s Treasury has provided any explanation for the document circulated by Business Daily. Rather, they both simply denied it, and Wu called it “irresponsible” misinformation.
SUGGESTED READING:
- The Star: No Fine! Kenya’s SGR Loan Repayment on Course – China by Brian Otieno
- The Standard: We are in Good Standing with Our Lenders: Treasury by Macharia Kamau
