The cost of servicing Kenya’s rising debts has surpassed spending on recurrent expenses for the national government, in part reflecting President William Ruto’s pledge to prioritise obligations to creditors over payments such as salaries.
Treasury spent nearly Sh1.02 trillion on debt repayments in 11 months through May 2023, freshly-gazetted data on expenditure from the government’s main account show, exceeding costs for the day-to-day running of the national government by Sh44.70 billion.
