(Reuters) – Kenya’s finance ministry denied on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, that debt restructuring was discussed during a meeting between its finance minister, John Mbadi, and China’s Finance Minister, Lan Foan, in Beijing. The ministry initially posted on X that China had expressed willingness to facilitate discussions on debt restructuring and concessional financing but later deleted the post and reissued it without those references.
The meeting, aimed at strengthening trade and investment ties, comes as Kenya grapples with a heavy debt burden and high repayment costs. The country’s decision last month to abandon the final review of its International Monetary Fund (IMF) program had already unsettled investors, leading to a drop in its dollar bond prices.
Despite the clarification, Kenya continues to rely heavily on Chinese loans for infrastructure projects, including the Mombasa-Nairobi railway. Officials are in talks with Beijing to secure additional funding to extend the railway to the Uganda border.
President William Ruto has repeatedly assured that Kenya will not default on its external debt, instead committing to fiscal discipline through spending cuts and revenue growth. However, his economic policies have faced significant public opposition, including last year’s deadly anti-tax protests.
To diversify its financial sources, Kenya recently secured a $1.5 billion privately placed bond deal with the United Arab Emirates, signaling its effort to reduce dependency on traditional lenders like China and the IMF.
