Market News
Kenya plans to borrow $1 billion using debt for food swap, finance ministry document shows - REUTERS
NAIROBI, Sept 9 (Reuters) – Kenya plans to borrow $1 billion using a debt for food security swap by March 2026, a finance ministry document showed on Tuesday.
The document gave no further details on who would be involved in the swap. Finance Minister John Mbadi told Kenyan broadcaster NTV in April that the government was in advanced discussions on a swap with the World Food Programme.
A debt for food security allows a country to exchange existing debt for lower-cost debt facilities, typically with backing by an outside group, by agreeing to use the savings for food-related schemes.
Kenya, East Africa’s largest economy, has been diversifying its funding sources at a time of global market volatility and higher U.S. interest rates.
The finance ministry’s document also showed Kenya planned to borrow $500 million using sustainability-linked bonds by March 2026. That is in addition to planned borrowing from the World Bank of $757 million by March next year and another $457 million in June.
(Reporting by George Obulutsa; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
