NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya has secured a $200 million loan from the African Development Bank and is in talks with the World Bank for a new $750 million loan, the head of debt management told Reuters.
The debt-laden government has been scrambling for new financing after deadly protests in June forced it to scrap planned tax hikes worth more than 346 billion shillings ($2.68 billion).
Raphael Owino, the director general of the Finance Ministry’s public debt management office, told Reuters that the IMF’s October approval of the seventh and eigth reviews, which paved the way for a $606 million loan tranche, had helped in its discussions for other lending.
“The World Bank is coming on board, riding on the back of IMF receipts,” Owino said. “The AfDB is already on board.”
($1 = 129.0000 Kenyan shillings)