Kenya’s President warns of huge consequences after his effort to address an $80 billion debt fails

Kenya's ballooning debt crisis worsens as President Ruto faces backlash over proposed tax hikes and budget cuts.

The ballooning debt in East Africa's economic hub of Kenya is expected to grow even more after deadly protests forced the rejection of a finance bill that President William Ruto said was needed to raise revenue. He now warns “it will have huge consequences.”

Facing public calls to resign, Mr. Ruto has said the government will turn to slashing a $2.7 billion budget deficit by half and borrowing the rest, without saying from where.

After anger over the bloated bureaucracy and luxurious lives of senior officials helped to fuel the protests, Mr. Ruto also has promised funding cuts in his own office and said the funding would stop for the offices of the first lady, the “second lady” — the wife of the Vice President — and the wife of the prime Cabinet secretary. Almost four dozen state enterprises with overlapping roles will be closed.

Mr. Ruto has become deeply unpopular in his two years in office over his quest to introduce taxes meant to enable Kenya to repay its $80 billion public debt to lenders including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and China.

The public debt makes up about 70% of Kenya's gross domestic product, the highest in 20 years.

How Mr. Ruto's administration will find the money to pay off debt without further angering millions of Kenyans barely getting by, and without slowing down the economy, is the key question. The economy grew 5.6% in 2023.

Economist Mbui Wagacha, a former adviser to previous President Uhuru Kenyatta, said Kenya needs a professional budget and management body like the Office of Management and Budget in the U.S. Currently, Kenya's treasury makes budget estimates and forwards them to the parliamentary finance committee, which creates the finance bills.