Kenya’s presidential hopeful to negotiate debt if he wins

Bloomberg

Kenyan presidential candidate Raila Odinga will target improved debt repayment terms for the East African economy, saying existing obligations of almost $100 billion may force the nation to seek help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The growing debt “puts Kenya in the group of the
most debt-distressed middle and lower-income developing countries now being forced into IMF credit and IMF-supervised austerity programs,” Odinga said at Chatham House in London. “Such austerity programs are usually implemented in the sole interest of satisfying the debt repayment at the expense of people’s livelihood. We have no choice in the matter.”
In its drive to upgrade roads, railways and other infrastructure, Kenya’s has more than quadrupled its borrowings over the past decade and the IMF has warned that the
country is at high risk of debt distress.
Odinga will run for president in elections on August 9 against William Ruto, who has also pledged to rein in government borrowing.