Kenya seeking infrastructure loan

15 December 2011

Kenya's Treasury has asked a number of international banks to provide a syndicated Sh54 billion (£386 million) loan for infrastructure financing.

According to Business Daily, the deal with financiers - including Citi, JP Morgan, HSBC, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Barclays - will be completed in mid-January, with disbursement expected to take place in February.

There had been some doubt that the money could be raised because of the cost of borrowing - Treasury bills and bonds have shot up by more than 13 percentage points this year alone.

However, Joseph Kinyua, the country's finance secretary said the government had decided to go for direct financing instead of a sovereign bond, due to time constraints.

The loan's price will be set at Libor (London Interbank Offered Rate), which stands at 0.555 per cent.

It was recently announced that China has surpassed the World Bank as the biggest lender to developing countries in Africa, with £9.72 billion of credit lines extended there.

Category: General