NAIROBI, April 12 (Xinhua) -- The National Treasury and Economic Planning of Kenya, in an analysis released Friday, detailed strategies to manage the country's public debt sustainably, despite the current economic challenges.

The East African nation's public debt stood at 11.3 trillion shillings (about 86.9 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of March, with 52 percent of it being external, according to the National Treasury.

"Nominal debt as a percentage of gross domestic product increased to 70.8 percent in June 2023 due to the depreciation of Kenyan shillings against major currencies and new borrowing to finance the fiscal deficit," the National Treasury said in the report released in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.

It noted that the country's debt-carrying capacity has remained medium since March 2021, a downward revision from strong, reflecting the impact of COVID-19 on the global and domestic economies.

The National Treasury observed that Kenya will continue to optimize the use of concessional funding, lengthen the maturity profile of public debt through the issuance of medium- to long-dated bonds, and expand the domestic debt market to reduce the cost of public debt and borrowing.

It said that Kenya's government will reduce borrowing to limit the rate of accumulation of public debt and make it sustainable. Enditem

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