Make full disclosure of Kenya's debt

Treasury CS John Mbadi holds up the budget briefcase at Parliament on June 12, 2025. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

State should make a full disclosure of Kenya’s debt

The government is finding it increasingly difficult to secure financing from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) following the global lender’s tightening of its conditions for assistance, especially on governance and fiscal responsibility. In recent months, the Ruto administration has been holding talks with the IMF to explore renewal of financing facilities that came to an end last year, but there has been little progress, more so because of the government’s failure to fulfil its end of the agreement.

One of the major sticking points is the country’s debt. It is not in doubt that Kenya’s debt is accumulating at an unsustainable pace and is almost crossing the threshold to default. The advice by the IMF and the World Bank has been to take stringent, painful measures to reduce this burden on the country’s revenue by reducing borrowing and cutting down on unnecessary expenditure. The IMF also recommended that the government restructure its foreign loans to lessen the burden of repayment.

Last week, two reports by the IMF cast doubt on Kenya’s debt records, saying it was difficult to establish how much the country owes because of its accounting procedures. They pinpointed deep flaws in how Nairobi reports its true liabilities, warning that a narrow legal definition of debt could mask a significant portion of Kenya's Sh12.8 trillion burden. The reports, an April 2026 High-Level Summary and a detailed technical assistance assessment, conclude that while Kenya’s published debt statistics are broadly accurate, the Ruto government is largely not observing international standards on transparency.

Consequently, the IMF warned that it would withhold further funding until the government cleaned up its debt books.

Kenyans have long questioned the debt figures and gone to court to try and force the government to open the books for scrutiny, but the push back by the government has been telling. Either those in government have no idea what the country owes, or they benefit from the public not knowing the truth. It's time for Kenyans to know the truth.