Kenya’s President William Ruto has proposed for the world to set up a $500 billion annual credit line to refinance maturing official debt for “struggling” economies, Business Daily newspaper reported.

These should be long-term loans with a 50-year maturity and 10 to 20 years grace period, he told a round table in Paris.

The president suggested a new financial tax at the global level, which the member countries would pay in proportion to their economic strength, as he sought the replacement of the West-dominated International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank as the preferred global lenders.

“We want another organisation of equals where you have as much say because you pay,” he stated.

The World Bank and the IMF are Kenya’s largest lenders and greatly influence Kenya’s fiscal path after the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

The share of debt of the two multilateral institutions has reached 1.65 trillion Shillings ($11.92 billion) by the end of March 2023.

(Editing by Seban Scaria seban.scaria@lseg.com )