Kenyan President William Ruto will request a $1 billion loan from China to fulfill blocked road projects when he visits Beijing later this month, according to his deputy Rigathi Gachahua.
Gachahua stated on local radio Inooro FM that Ruto will also request a longer repayment period for the money that is already owed.
Kenya currently owes more than $8 billion in Chinese loans.
Ruto’s initiative is a significant reversal in his views, as his coalition earlier chastised his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta’s Chinese borrowing spree.
Kenyatta used the Chinese loans to fund infrastructure projects such as the Nairobi expressway, however many of these projects have now stopped due to unpaid debts by contractors.
“If we get $1 billion we can be able to give these people [contractors] the money they are owed so they can return so even as we pay the debt, the roads are completed,” Gachahua said.
The deputy said Ruto will ask Chinese officials if Kenya can be given more time to repay the debts.
Kenya was one of many African countries targeted by China’s Belt and Road Initiative, an ambitious project launched by President Xi Jinping in 2013 to expand China’s geopolitical and economic influence through a global infrastructure building push.
However, the spike in Chinese loans to countries such as Kenya, prior to a decrease in Chinese financing beginning in 2019, has enraged critics by increasing debt levels and the accompanying repayment burden.
According to official data, the Kenyan government spends approximately half of its revenue on debt repayment, stressing its budget. Foreign debt repayments have exacerbated the problem, as has the Kenyan currency’s sharp depreciation.
On Tuesday, the cabinet directed all ministries to cut 10% of their budgets, while the president’s office imposed some restrictions on international travel by government officials in order to save spending.
“It is true that many people have been travelling abroad, spending a lot of money, and that is why the president ordered that even ministers and governors can only travel with two people,” Gachagua said.