## Kenya: Technical Assistance Report-Report on Data Quality Assessment for Public Sector Debt Statistics Mission (July 23-29, 2025)

_Technical Assistance Reports, April 10, 2026_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [Kenya: Technical Assistance Report-Report on Data Quality Assessment for Public Sector Debt Statistics Mission (July 23-29, 2025)](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/technical-assistance-reports/issues/2026/04/09/kenya-technical-assistance-report-report-on-data-quality-assessment-for-public-sector-debt-575297)

## Other formats

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## Bibliographic details
- Published: April 10, 2026
- Series: Technical Assistance Reports
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798229042703.019

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### Overview
- Assessment undertaken in July 2025 using the IMF’s Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF) for PSDS.
- Initiative funded by the Government of Japan to strengthen the quality of public sector debt data in select African countries.
- Assessment objective: evaluate Kenya’s public sector debt statistics (PSDS) and provide findings and recommendations to broaden scope and improve alignment with international statistical standards.

### Key findings
- Kenya’s public debt is considered sustainable but remains at high risk of debt distress, according to the IMF-World Bank debt sustainability analysis (DSA) of October 2024.
- The public debt-to-GDP ratio reached a peak of 72 percent at the end of the 2022/23 fiscal year.
- Debt-to-GDP levels dropped to 66 percent of GDP at the end of the 2023/24 fiscal year, according to national debt reports.
- Around half of the total debt stock is external, mainly provided on concessional terms, and the other half is domestic.
- Two key challenges for the authorities:
  - Managing the exchange rate risk of external debt.
  - Managing the high-interest rate cost of domestic debt.
- Overall assessment: Kenya’s public debt statistics are broadly accurate and timely, but scope and methodological enhancements are needed.

### Coverage and scope gaps identified
- Need to expand coverage to comprehensively capture:
  - The non-guaranteed borrowing of public units outside of central government.
  - The stock of other accounts payable (pending bills).
- Review of public-private partnerships (PPPs) and securitization operations is required to ensure all related debts are captured.

### Methodological and dissemination issues
- Enhancements needed to align compilation and dissemination with international statistical standards, specifically:
  - Reporting external and domestic debt based on the residency of the creditor/investor.
  - Providing more comprehensive and accessible metadata that explains data sources, coverage, compilation methods, concepts, and definitions.

### Policy recommendations and priorities
- Expand reporting coverage to include non-guaranteed borrowing of public units outside central government.
- Include the stock of other accounts payable (pending bills) in public sector debt statistics.
- Review PPPs and securitization operations to ensure full capture of related debts.
- Reclassify and report external and domestic debt according to creditor/investor residency.
- Produce and disseminate more comprehensive metadata on sources, coverage, compilation methods, concepts, and definitions to improve transparency and user understanding.

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/technical-assistance-reports/issues/2026/04/09/kenya-technical-assistance-report-report-on-data-quality-assessment-for-public-sector-debt-575297_