Kenya’s Auditor General has launched an official review of the country’s national debt to determine the exact amounts owed to various creditors, Finance Minister John Mbadi revealed in an interview with Reuters on Monday.
Kenya’s debt currently stands at 10.5 trillion shillings ($81.71 billion). The audit of these borrowings was a major demand by protesters opposing tax hikes, which eventually led the government to shelve several planned tax increases in June.
While confirming that the audit process is underway, Mbadi did not provide specifics on the investigation’s scope or a timeline for when the findings will be released.
The Auditor General’s office, an independent constitutional entity funded by the state, is leading the review. Initially, President William Ruto had appointed a committee to perform the audit during the peak of protests, but several prominent figures, including the head of the Law Society of Kenya, declined the appointments, insisting that the audit be conducted by the Auditor General.
During his parliamentary vetting, Mbadi pledged to prioritize “debt accountability” to improve public understanding of the issue.
The protests, which resulted in over 50 deaths, prompted President Ruto to abandon the government’s proposed financing law. The unrest also triggered a series of credit downgrades by the three major global rating agencies.
Additionally, a team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is currently in Kenya on a fact-finding mission ahead of a board meeting to review the country’s economic program and approve a $600 million disbursement.
