The government of Kenya through the Ministry of Finance has secured a Ksh210 billion in a new Eurobond that comes in tranches of 7- and 12-year tenors.
This is the third Eurobond that Kenya has sold since 2014 and is expected to finance the budget and repay Ksh75 billion bond due to mature in June.
According to the Ministry’s statement from London on Thursday, the government received bids worth Ks950 billion for the Eurobond from investors, an oversubscription of 4.5 times.
The seven-year portion of the bond was priced at 7.0%, while the longer-dated tranche was priced at 8.0%, well below the initial guidance price of 7.5% and 8.5% respectively.
"The Government of Kenya, acting through the National Treasury and Planning, has successfully priced a new US dollar 2.1 billion, dual-tranche Eurobond of 7-year and 12-year tenors on 15th May 2019 in London, United Kingdom," the statement read.
The first Eurobond was in June 2014, when it launched the debut bond of Ksh200 billion and tapped for a further $750 million, while the second was in February 2018 when a dual-tranche of Ksh200 billion was issued (10-year tenor of Ksh100 billion and 30-year tenor of a similar amount.
The new one stretches further the country’s public debt to at least Ksh5.5 trillion.
This, however, has not gone well with some Kenyans as they feel that the government was over borrowing despite rising concern over public debt.
Here are some reactions from Kenyans:
