Ksh.703 Billion Debt Redemptions To Push Overall Spending To Ksh.4 Trillion

 

By Kepha Muiruri For Citizen Digital

The government will part with Ksh.702.5 billion to retire maturing debt across the 2022-2023 financial year.

This to push gross spending for the fiscal year to Ksh.4 trillion from the initial spending of Ksh.3.3 trillion in net terms.

According to data from the final budget estimates tabled in Parliament on Thursday afternoon, retiring internal debt will gobble up the largest chunk of the redemption costs at Ksh.461.4 billion.

The local redemptions in the upcoming financial year are 34.2 per cent higher than the Ksh.343.9 billion in revised internal redemption estimates for the fiscal year ending June 30.

External debt redemptions are meanwhile expected to grow by 19.3 per cent to Ksh.241.1 billion from Ksh.202.1 billion in the ending fiscal cycle.

Redemptions to the Chinese Development Bank are expected to take up the biggest chunk of the external debt redemptions at Ksh.80.7 billion.

Other top creditors by redemptions in the cycle include Poland, the International Development Association (IDA), Italy and the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Locally, the redemption of Treasury bills is expected to eat up Ksh.200 billion of the internal redemptions.

The National Treasury does not include debt redemptions as part of its spending estimates as presented in budget statements.

The redemption costs are expected to peak in the 2023/2024 cycle to stand at Ksh.953.4 billion according to printed estimates.