(Bloomberg) -- Kenya is reviving plans for a bond sale targeted at citizens living abroad to help raise funds for infrastructure projects, according to Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi.
The East African nation in early February said its National Treasury would work with the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency to structure a diaspora bond. The plans were later put on hold due to concerns about whether its overseas citizens would buy enough of the debt, Mudavadi said in an emailed copy of comments he delivered to members of the Kenyan diaspora in Namibia on Tuesday.
“But today the figures indicate that Kenya is now ripe for a diaspora bond, where you can help in investing in key infrastructure whether it is the roads, hospitals or institutions that matter and have a serious impact on the people,” he said.
The change comes after the National Treasury widened its budget deficit forecast for the year through June 2025 just two months into the fiscal year after protests in which at least 61 people died forced the government to scrap a plan meant to boost revenue collection. The nation’s courts are also probing the legality of another set of tax measures.
Cash sent home by Kenyans living abroad hit a record $4.19 billion in 2023, significantly boosting the country’s current account balance, Mudavadi said.
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