• Kenya will launch a digital platform to automate payments on external debt.

• The system goes live on February 2, 2026, with a one-month transition period.

• External debt accounts for nearly half of Kenya’s total public debt.

Kenya’s National Treasury announced on January 27 it will soon roll out a digital system designed to automate external debt payments. The announcement was made by Treasury principal secretary Chris Kiptoo following a project briefing attended by representatives from the Office of the Controller of Budget, the Auditor General, and the World Bank.

The platform is expected to become operational on February 2, 2026. A one-month parallel run will follow to ensure a smooth and secure transition from existing procedures.

The system will integrate several key tools, including the Meridian debt management system, the Central Bank of Kenya’s exchange rate system, and the Treasury’s request and approval processes. The setup is intended to automate the full payment chain, from instruction generation to approval and execution. Manual procedures will be replaced with secure digital workflows. Kiptoo said the reform should help reduce delays and errors while strengthening oversight of the country’s financial obligations.

The move comes as Kenya’s external debt accounts for nearly half of total public debt. At the end of 2025, external debt stood at about 5.5 trillion shillings, or around $42 billion, out of total public debt exceeding 11 trillion shillings. The scale of these obligations makes transparent and reliable debt servicing mechanisms critical, particularly as Fitch has pointed to rising financing needs and the importance of effective external borrowing management in 2026.

By modernizing debt payment management, the platform is expected to speed up transaction processing, enhance transparency, and improve traceability of public funds. It should also support better coordination among government agencies and tighter oversight of financial commitments.

The shift to a fully digital system, however, raises cybersecurity challenges. Protecting the platform against intrusions, fraud, and technical failures will be essential. Ensuring data security and system resilience against cyberattacks will be key to maintaining the reliability and continuity of Kenya’s debt payments.

Samira Njoya