Kenya's public debt reaches KSh 13.475 trillion in August, CBK says

Kenya's public debt stood at KSh 13,475.15 billion (KSh 13.475 trillion) in August, a provisional figure, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) said in its weekly bulletin of 23 October. At the CBK's rate of KSh 129.91 to the US dollar on 22 October, that is about US$103.7 billion, or about 697 billion yuan at the central parity of 671.71 yuan per 100 US dollars that Xinhua published on 27 October.

The CBK's table splits the August total into KSh 7,676.02 billion of domestic debt and KSh 5,799.13 billion of public and publicly guaranteed external debt, which it puts at US$44.80 billion. The bulletin credits the figures to the National Treasury and the CBK.

In September 2022 public debt was KSh 8,701.10 billion, made up of KSh 4,366.30 billion domestic and KSh 4,334.80 billion external (US$36.00 billion), according to the CBK's weekly bulletins of 11 November and 2 December 2022. The Standard said the stock is KSh 4.77 trillion, or 54.9 per cent, higher than in September 2022.

The CBK series puts the stock at KSh 12,299.48 billion in December 2025, then KSh 12,832.94 billion in March, KSh 13,011.89 billion in June and KSh 13,228.89 billion in July this year. Domestic debt rose from KSh 6,837.51 billion in December 2025 to KSh 7,676.02 billion in August. External debt rose from KSh 5,461.97 billion (US$42.34 billion) to KSh 5,799.13 billion (US$44.80 billion).

The National Treasury's provisional June debt bulletin put total public debt at 68.5 per cent of gross domestic product at the end of June. Domestic debt was 56.3 per cent of the total and external debt 43.7 per cent.

The Treasury's breakdown of external debt by creditor at the end of June shows multilateral lenders at KSh 3,102.43 billion, commercial creditors at KSh 1,539.31 billion and bilateral creditors at KSh 973.10 billion. Government-guaranteed debt added KSh 69.85 billion. International sovereign bonds account for KSh 1,361.43 billion of the commercial total.

The Treasury's annex lists China as a bilateral creditor at KSh 616.90 billion, the largest bilateral line; it does not name a lending institution. France is next at KSh 101.01 billion, then Japan at KSh 77.77 billion. By currency, 54.8 per cent of external debt is in US dollars, 26.6 per cent in euros, 11.7 per cent in Chinese yuan and 4.5 per cent in Japanese yen.

On the domestic side, at the end of June the Treasury bulletin lists Treasury bonds at KSh 6,021.15 billion and Treasury bills at KSh 1,118.15 billion, a ratio of 84 to 16. Banks hold KSh 2,538.62 billion of domestic debt, pension funds KSh 1,028.36 billion, insurance companies KSh 1,009.76 billion, households KSh 451.18 billion and non-residents KSh 297.41 billion.

Cumulative external debt service to the end of June was KSh 716.10 billion against a budget of KSh 673.76 billion for the financial year. Cumulative domestic interest payments were KSh 862.65 billion against an annual budget of KSh 883.76 billion for 2025/26.