The National Treasury has flagged reports of Kenya defaulting on her Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) loans from China as erroneous.
In a statement by outgoing Treasury CS Amb. Ukur Yatani on Thursday, October 13, the Treasury maintained that Kenya has never defaulted on her settlement of debt services with her creditors.
Yatani added that the country had not accumulated any debt arrears in decades to suggest difficulties in debt servicing.
"We wish to state categorically that Kenya has never defaulted on its settlement of its debt service obligations to any of its creditors nor has any creditor filed or reported any claim of default on debt service payments on facilities extended to the Government of Kenya," read part of Yatani's statement.
He further maintained that Kenya has always undergone frequent independent reviews on accessing the international market, and at no time has it been flagged as a country defaulting on its external debt obligations.
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The outgoing CS said that all the public debt, including the SGR loans, are paid from the Consolidated Fund in accordance with the Public Finance Management Act 2012.
Yatani assured Kenya's creditors, investors and development partners that the country's financial position was sound and robust.
"Debt service is a first charge on the Consolidated Fund and takes precedence over other forms of expenditure. We want to assure our creditors, development partners, investors and the general public that Kenya's financial situation is sound and robust," Yatani added.
The Business Daily on Thursday reported that Kenya had defaulted on her SGR loan, resulting in a Sh1.3 billion fine by China.
The Treasury asked Business Daily to restrain itself from misinformation that has the potential of harming the country's reputation in international financial markets.
