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Treasury flags Sh83bn in publicly guaranteed debt to State firms

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The Kenya Electricity Generating Company head offices in Nairobi. 

Photo credit: Photo | File

The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) and Kenya Airways (KQ) top the list of publicly guaranteed companies where the government stock of debt stood at Sh83.24 billion as at end of June 2025.

Treasury says the outstanding government guaranteed debt to KenGen, amounted to Sh43.11 billion. 

The Treasury statistics contained in the 2026/27 Medium Term Debt Management Strategy (MTDS) show that the government had guaranteed KPA Sh40.23 billion. 

The main entrance to the Kenya Ports Authority in Mombasa.

The government has guaranteed the national carrier, Kenya Airways, Sh9.69 billion for a loan that was taken from the local banks in 2017. The debt guarantee is owed to the MTC Trust & Corporate Services (Security Agent for Local Banks).

The data on government-guaranteed debt as at the end of June 2025 is detailed in budget documents tabled at the National Assembly on Thursday February 12, 2026.

According to the Treasury documents, the government in 1997 guaranteed KenGen a loan of Sh608 million from the government of Japan for the Sondu Miriu Hydro Power Project. In the year 2004 the government gave another guarantee of Sh5.9 billion to the government of Japan for the Sondu Miriu Hydro Power Project.

Three years later in 2007, the government gave another guarantee of a Sh2.798 billion loan to KenGen from the government of Japan.

KenGen received a government guarantee for a loan of Sh16.1 billion from the government of Japan in 2010 to finance the construction of the Olkaria 1 Unit 4 and 5 Geothermal Power Project.

In 2011, KenGen received a government backed loan of Sh791 million from the Federal Republic of Germany for rehabilitation and upgrade of the Geothermal Plant Olkaria.

The government of Japan further extended a Sh526 million to KenGen in 2021 under the DSSI Japan for KenGen Loans Phase I

Japan also extended a government-guaranteed loan to KenGen in 2021 for the DSSI Japan for KenGen Loans Phase II.

In the year 2007, the Kenyan government guaranteed KPA Sh15.7 billion loan for the construction of Mombasa Port Development (Mombasa Port A) project.

KPA also received the government backing for the Sh1.72 billion loan from Japan for the construction of the Mombasa Port Development Programme (Mombasa Port) project.

Sh25.49 billion loan

In the financial year 2015, the government guaranteed a Sh25.49 billion loan from Japan to the KPA for the Kenya Port Development Project Phase II (Principal IIA).

KPA also received Sh162 million from Japan in 2021 for DSSI Japan-Kenya Ports Authority (KE-P25)-Phase I and Sh203 million for the DSSI Japan-Kenya Ports Authority (KE-P25)-Phase II.

The government in 2017 guaranteed Kenya Airways Sh9.69 billion through the MTC Trust & Corporate Services, the Security Agent for Local Banks.

John Mbadi

Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi speaks during treasury market update in Nairobi on December 4, 2025.
 

Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation Media Group

The MTDS tabled in the National Assembly by the Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi shows that as at the end of June 2025, the stock of public and publicly guaranteed debt was Sh11.814 trillion or 67.8 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), equivalent to $91.42 billion in nominal terms.

The Treasury documents say the domestic debt was Sh6.326 trillion while external debt was Sh5.488 trillion.

The report indicates that at end of June 2025, in the domestic debt portfolio, Treasury bonds accounted for 80.8 percent, Treasury bills accounted for 16.4 percent, IMF SDR allocation accounted for 1.3 percent while other domestic debt categories accounted for 1.6 percent of the total domestic debt.

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