Exclusive: Kenya plans $500 million Eurobond buyback with new loans, central-bank governor says
Exclusive: Kenya plans $500 million Eurobond buyback with new loans, central-bank governor says
Kenya is planning to buy back up to a quarter of its $2 billion 2024 international bond before year-end after it secures new loans, central bank governor Kamau Thugge told Reuters, a move aimed at alleviating concerns it can repay the looming debt.
“We would use part of that for the buyback, for the liability management, and the rest would be for the budget support,” said Thugge, who earlier this month said Kenya was expecting to “progressively reduce the liability of the Eurobond”.
“We would like to start as quickly as possible,” he said of the buyback.
Kenya’s approach to repaying the $2 billion 2024 bond is being watched closely by overseas investors, given its rising debt repayments, weakening currency and soaring bond yields, which have locked many developing countries out of international capital markets.
The country is in talks to raise between $500 million and $1 billion in commercial loans from two regional policy banks, Trade & Development Bank and the African Export-Import Bank, Thugge said in an interview on the sidelines of the World Bank and IMF meetings in Marrakech.
