BY HARRIET MUGO
National Treasury CS Ukur Yatani, has dismissed as fake reports that Kenya is unable to pay the SGR loan and has been heavily fined by China.
He said Kenya has never failed to pay any debt to any of it’s creditors, nor has any creditor filed or reported any claim of default on debt on loans extended to the government.
‘’ At no time has Kenya been flagged as a country defaulting on it’s external debt obligations,” said Yattani.
He said all public debt, including the SGR loans are paid from the consolidated fund in accordance with the public finance management act, 2012.
“Debt service is a first charge on the consolidated fund and takes precedence over other forms of expenditure,’’ Yatani stated
He said that Kenya undergoes frequent independent sovereign rating reviews inorder to access international financial markets to raise resources and whose outcomes are published widely.
He added that, Kenya has not accumulated any debt arrears in decades to suggest difficulties in debt servicing.
‘’We want to assure our creditors, development partners, investors and the general public that Kenya’s financial position is sound and robust,’’ He stated
The cabinet secretary called upon the Business Daily to restrain itself from the misinformation with the potential of harming the country’s reputation in the International Financial Market.