The Mirage of a Lighter Debt Load

Hello 👋🏽 It's Brayo from The Kenyan Wall Street

Kenya’s debt stock slipped by KSh 41 billion in July, the first monthly decline this year, as a stronger shilling trimmed the value of foreign loans.

Harry Njuguna analyzes…

The currency’s gains against major global units erased over KSh 100 billion from external obligations, even as total public debt hit KSh 11.77 trillion, or nearly 67% of GDP.

The reprieve, however, was largely optical: domestic borrowing climbed by KSh 61 billion as the government leaned on Treasury securities to plug its cash gaps. Commercial banks and pension funds tightened their grip on state paper, deepening the crowding-out of private credit.

Analysts warn that currency-driven relief can mask fiscal fatigue, with repayments merely shifting from dollar creditors to local taxpayers. The Treasury insists the trend signals “stability,” but the numbers tell a quieter truth : the country is borrowing differently, not less.

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Emerging Markets Catch Their Breath

By Chelsy Maina

A softer dollar is breathing life into emerging markets, unleashing their strongest rally since 2009 and drawing investors back to developing economies hungry for yield.

From São Paulo to Nairobi, currencies are firming, inflation is easing, and local bonds are suddenly fashionable again. The shift, powered by the Federal Reserve’s turn toward rate cuts, has made debt cheaper to service and equity valuations harder to ignore.

For Africa, long strained by dollar strength and borrowing costs, it’s a moment of rare alignment: optimism meeting opportunity. Whether this marks a true turning point or just another cycle of fleeting capital will depend on how steady both the dollar and political discipline remain.

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Digitizing the Coffee Trade 

By Fred Obura

Kenya’s coffee trade, long ruled by middlemen and manual auctions, is finally going digital. After years of promises and plunging sales, the Nairobi Coffee Exchange is preparing to host its first global online auction; an experiment in transparency for a sector where prices rise even as volumes collapse.

Officials say the move will strip power from entrenched cartels and let international buyers bid directly, restoring value to the farmer. But digitization alone won’t cure decades of inefficiency or revive yields that have withered since the 1980s.

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Opinion

Paper-Based Finance Is Slowing Your SME Down

By Veerakumar Natarajan

Small and mid-sized businesses that employ nearly 15 million people are still shuffling through ledgers, ink receipts, and faded invoice books as if time had stopped. The comfort of paper, once a sign of control, now breeds delay, error, and financial invisibility.

Across the world, automation has turned accounting into an engine of precision and foresight, while many local firms remain tangled in bureaucracy and fear of cost. But those adopting affordable, cloud-based systems like Zoho are discovering something radical; that efficiency is no longer a luxury but a survival strategy.

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