Kenya defaults on Sh19.6bn Arror, Kimwarer dams loan
The National Treasury building in Nairobi.
What you need to know:
- Kenya defaulted on the Sh19.6 billion loan for the controversial Arror and Kimwarer dams having failed to make the first instalment payments to Italian Bank Intesa San Paolo.
- The Italian bank says that Kenya has failed to make the payment amid investigations into the billions of shillings that were shared in foreign banks and never wired to Kenya.
Kenya defaulted on the Sh19.6 billion loan for the controversial Arror and Kimwarer dams having failed to make the first instalment payments to Italian Bank Intesa San Paolo in May.
Treasury documents tabled in Parliament show Kenya was to pay the first instalment for the Sh11 billion lent to the Arror dam on May 18 and initial repayment of the Sh8.63 billion Kimwarer loan on May 9.
The Italian bank says that Kenya has failed to make the payment amid investigations into the billions of shillings that were shared in foreign banks and never wired to Kenya government accounts.
“No payments have been made in 2021,” a representative of the Italian bank who did not wish to be named said in an email response to the Business Daily queries. Records before Parliament show the Treasury is yet to make payments for loans linked to the two dams.
“Loan of Eur 258,688,881.72 (Sh33bilion) repayable in semiannual instalments commencing 9th May 2021 and ending on 9th November, 2035,” said the Treasury disclosures in reference to the Kimwarer dam debt.
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