Tag: Kenya
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World Bank Raises the Alarm About African Debt Distress (Again)
For the second time in a week, the World Bank has raised the alarm about mounting debt in Africa. A new blog post shows that not only has public debt in Southern and Eastern Africa doubled over the last decade, but the proportion of pricy private debt is also ...
Chinese-Made Electric Buses Launch in Nairobi
The Kenyan mobility startup BasiGo has assembled its first electric buses, using components from the Chinese automaker Build Your Dream (BYD). BasiGo closed a $4.3 million seed funding round in February to assemble and sell electric-powered buses. The company plans to supply more ...
China Donates Trucks, Non-Lethal Equipment to the Kenya’s Military
For the second time in a month, China is providing an East African military with a sizable donation of non-lethal equipment and support vehicles. On Monday, Kenya's Defense Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa took delivery of dozens of trucks and unspecified "engineering equipment" during ...
Rising Debt and a Sinking Currency is a Bad Combination For Kenya
Kenya's embattled currency, the shilling, sank even further on Monday, dipping to an all-time low of 115 against the U.S. dollar, prompting renewed concerns that the country will soon face a dramatic economic reckoning. The problem is that every time the shilling ...
When It Comes to Security in Africa, the U.S. and China Have More in Common Than Many Think
The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee is currently hearing testimony from U.S. generals about U.S.-led security in the Middle East and Africa. Not surprisingly, the hearings are portraying China’s African priorities as opposed in all respects to those of the United States. However, there may ...
Nairobi Expressway Workers’ COVID Woes
As Kenya eagerly awaits the opening of the new Chinese-built Nairobi Expressway, concerns about workers and costs are surfacing. The Nation newspaper reported that the contractor, China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), has reportedly refused to let some workers return to their hometowns since March 2020. This ...
Kenya’s Artisans Decry Chinese Imports
Artisanal craftspeople in Kenya are complaining that they’re being edged out by cheap Chinese imports. The national broadcaster KTN’s report comes as Kenya tries to deal with its massive Chinese trade imbalance. Trade numbers show the country imported about $4 billion worth of goods from ...
Could China’s Grain Hoard Become a Geopolitical Tool?
Russia’s war on Ukraine is increasingly being hitting African food security, and raising political tensions in the process. For example, Egypt is the world’s largest importer of wheat and gets half of its supply from Russia and Ukraine. This is also true for Kenya, which imports 30% of ...
Comparing Chinese Rail Projects in Kenya and Indonesia
China is building rail lines all over the Global South. But how does Africa's experience with Chinese contractors compare with that of Southeast Asian countries? The South African Institute of International Affairs recently published a paper comparing the environmental, ...
World Bank Overtakes China as Kenya’s Creditor of Choice
There's been a major shift in Kenya's borrowing patterns over the past three years marked by a sharp increase in loans from the World Bank while lending from China has slowed considerably, according to new Treasury data. ...
China’s Relatively Small Share of Kenya’s Total Public Debt
Kenya's total public debt now stands at $72.2 billion with $6.92 billion or just 9% owed to Chinese creditors, according to new figures from the Treasury in Nairobi. When measured against Kenya's total external, China's share ...
Kenya’s SGR Scandal Isn’t Going Away
This week saw the announcement that the United Kingdom’s international development investment arm, the CDC Group, will invest $1 billion in Kenyan infrastructure. This will include funding a new rail transit hub in Nairobi. It’s interesting that the UK is leaning into ...