This archive report was first published on 4 November 2019.
On November 4, 2019, the Senate's joint Committee on Delegated Legislation and Finance approved the National Assembly's amendment to the Public Finance Management Act, 2012, which seeks to raise Treasury's debt limit to an absolute Ksh.9 trillion.
The Committee's recommendation sides with that of Members of Parliament who stood by Treasury's reconfigured debt management proposal.
Under the stewardship of Acting Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani, Treasury seeks to create room for more borrowing as a means to enable the restructuring of Kenya's current debt profile by pushing government lending away from the domestic market and substituting expensive debt for cheaper options.
Should Senators approve of the proposal, Kenya's borrowing ceiling will shift from the current net present value (NPV) of 50 percent of Gross Domestic Product to an absolute value of Ksh.9 trillion.
Treasury estimates project Kenya's public debt to cross the Ksh.6.3 trillion mark in June 2020 before settling at Ksh.8.7 trillion at the end of 2024.
