Debt pain as payment of Naivasha SGR loan starts

[John Ashworth]

Debt pain as payment of Sh162bn Naivasha SGR loan starts

Kenya will from January 21 start repaying the Sh162 billion Chinese loan used to build the Nairobi-Naivasha standard gauge railway (SGR) line, adding to the taxpayers’ burden of settling the mounting foreign debt.

The Treasury has disclosed that the $1.482 billion (Sh162 billion) debt from the Exim Bank of China that Kenya tapped in December 2015 has fallen due after a five-year grace period and that Kenya will be expected to make 30 semi-annual payments for the next 14 years...