NAIROBI, June 5 (Reuters) – Kenya plans to carry out another Eurobond buyback this year, which would bring the total amount of debt it has bought back in 2024 to about $2.5 billion, the World Bank said.

In February, Kenya’s government said it would buy back more than $1.4 billion of its $2 billion Eurobond maturing in June via a tender offer launched that month for a new bond.

The government said at the time the new bond would amortise in three equal instalments in 2029, 2030 and 2031, giving a weighted average tenure of six years.

It means that, by the end of June, Kenya will have to pay another $557 million to clear the $2 billion Eurobond.

The World Bank said Kenya’s government would have to be proactive in its liability management and focus on concessional borrowing to reduce its interest costs and amortisation pressure, especially between 2028 and 2031, to forestall future liquidity squeezes.

“To this end, the GoK (government) is considering another Eurobond buyback in 2024, bringing the total 2024 buyback

to approximately $2.5 billion, smoothing the amortisation profile…” the World Bank said in a report released last week after approving a $1.2 billion loan for Kenya.

“In addition, the GoK is considering liability management by leveraging sustainability instruments like debt swaps and sustainability-linked bonds.”

The shilling and stocks on the Kenyan bourse rallied in February, helped by increased confidence after the government sold the new Eurobond.

In a separate economic update on Kenya released on Wednesday, the bank forecast the economy would expand 5% this year after growing 5.6% in 2023.

(Reporting by George Obulutsa; Editing by Christina Fincher)