Kenya owes hundreds of billions of shillings to several countries, with China remaining its biggest bilateral lender, according to the latest Public Debt Bulletin released by the National Treasury.

🇰🇪 Breaking It Down

The report shows Kenya's total public debt stood at Ksh12.86 trillion at the end of April 2026, comprising Ksh7.19 trillion in domestic debt and Ksh5.67 trillion in external debt.

Among countries that have directly lent money to Kenya, China tops the list after the country's debt rose to Ksh611.4 billion by the end of April.

France emerged as Kenya's second-largest bilateral creditor with loans amounting to Ksh102.8 billion, followed by Japan at Ksh77.2 billion, Germany at Ksh56.6 billion, and Italy at Ksh43.9 billion.

📌 What You Need to Know

The Treasury report further shows that Belgium is owed Ksh24.9 billion, Spain Ksh16.2 billion, the United States Ksh8.1 billion, Austria Ksh1.5 billion, while Hungary rounds off the top 10 with Ksh595.5 million.

It is worth noting that these funds cover only loans disbursed by foreign governments and do not include borrowing from other lenders such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Besides loans from other countries, Kenya also owes Ksh3.07 trillion to multilateral lenders such as the World Bank and the IMF, making them the country's largest external creditors.

According to the National Treasury, commercial lenders, including Eurobond investors and banks, are owed Ksh1.55 trillion, while foreign governments are owed Ksh974.4 billion.

Treasury further revealed that Kenya's external debt declined slightly during April, falling from Ksh5.68 trillion in March to Ksh5.67 trillion, attributing the drop to loan repayments and favourable exchange rates.

The National Treasury also noted that more than half of Kenya's external debt is denominated in the US dollar , which accounts for 54.4 per cent of the total.

📰 Source: Kenyans.co.ke