According to media reports, the Kenyan government is racing against time to pay $94 million as part of a loan lent to Kenya Airways six years ago. The Kenyan Treasury's disclosures tabled in parliament show that $22.9 million has been paid to the US Exim Bank against $118.1 million due in the current financial year ending June. The government is expected to shoulder the heavy burden of settling the national carrier’s debt which it guaranteed after the company’s losses left it unable to pay its loans. In the 2022/23 financial year, $118.1 million is due for payment of which $22.9 million has already been paid, Kenyan Treasury said in a report tabled before Parliament. As reported, the Treasury has a controlling 48.9 percent stake in Kenya Airways which it has been bailing out over the years amid losses from its passenger and cargo operations. KQ, as the carrier is known by its international code, originally had loans amounting to $842 million of which the government guaranteed portion to Exim Bank USA was $525 million. The guarantee was approved by the Kenyan Parliament in 2017. Part of the debt had been over time and the outstanding balance as of December stood at $462.5 million. The treasury is expected to have completed the guaranteed KQ debt in the 2026/27 fiscal year. The money it will have spent will be reflected as shareholder loans to the struggling carrier. “The loan was expected to be fully serviced by the end of full-year 2026/27, after which the government as per section 61 of the Public Finance Management Act would recover the sums of money paid, as shareholder loans,” treasury said. KQ narrowed its loss in the half year ended June 2022 to $77 million from the $90 million loss it recorded in a similar period the previous year. The company has issued a profit warning for the year ended December 2022, citing foreign exchange losses that are anticipated to overshadow revenue growth. This means that the NSE-listed firm will post a larger loss in the review period, having recorded a net loss of $124 million in the previous year.
