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Time’s Up. Kenya’s Debt Deferral Deal With China Runs Out at the End of the Month and a Big Payment is Due

by Eric Olander
Yasuyoshi CHIBA / AFP

The 6-month debt deferral deal that Kenya secured with China back in January under the auspices of the G20 is now coming to an end and the government will either have to come up with almost a billion dollars to begin loan payments or negotiate another debt repayment holiday.

The debts for the $1.5 billion Nairobi to Naivasha Standard Gauge Railway line were part of this debt deferral arrangement. The first $897 million payment of that and other loans, mostly from the China Exim Bank, is due on July 1st.

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