Kenya's domestic debt has breached the KSh 7 trillion mark for the first time, reaching KSh 7.05 trillion as at 20 February 2026, Central Bank of Kenya data shows,
- •The latest weekly position puts gross domestic debt at KSh 7.052 trillion, up from KSh 6.855 trillion on 24 December 2025, a rise of KSh 197.31 billion in under two months.
- •Domestic debt stood at KSh 6.8 trillion at end-December 2025, equivalent to 37.5% of GDP and 55.6% of total public debt.
- •The first four trillion took a decade to accumulate while the last three has been accumulated over roughly 14 months, as external financing remained constrained, debt redemptions stayed elevated, and the government returned repeatedly to local markets to plug fiscal gaps.
Domestic debt first crossed KSh 1 trillion in June 2011, surpassed KSh 2 trillion in May 2017, and broke through KSh 3 trillion in January 2020. It crossed KSh 4 trillion in December 2021, KSh 5 trillion in December 2023, KSh 6 trillion in February 2025, and has now breached KSh 7 trillion in February 2026.
Government securities account for the bulk of the stock. Treasury bonds stood at KSh 5.739 trillion as at 20 February, with Treasury bills at KSh 1.148 trillion, taking total securities to KSh 6.883 trillion. The overdraft at the Central Bank stood at KSh 63.58 billion, with other domestic obligations at KSh 105.85 billion.
The instrument mix is shifting with treasury bonds still dominating at 81.38% of the debt stock by instrument, but Treasury bills have edged up to 16.22% from 15.67% in late December, a move that points to rising short-term funding pressure and heavier rollover requirements in the second half of the fiscal year.
The concentration of holdings within the financial system has deepened alongside the rise in the stock. Financial corporations held 79.2% of government securities as at 20 February. Commercial banks accounted for 35.7%, up from 34.5% in December, a rise that tightens the sovereign-bank nexus and crowds private sector credit. Pension funds held 14.4% and insurance companies 13.6%. Non-residents held just 4.6%, reflecting limited foreign appetite for local-currency government paper.
The breach of KSh 7 trillion arrives at a moment of narrowing fiscal room. Kenya has already deployed KSh 554.96 billion of its KSh 634.75 billion domestic borrowing target for FY 2025/26, 87.4% of the full-year envelope, with half the fiscal year still remaining. At the same pace of issuance, the government will exhaust its domestic borrowing headroom well before June, pointing to either a target revision or a turn toward external markets to cover any remaining financing gap.
