Kenya plans to raise between USD500 million and USD1 billion in its first international bond sale to help finance renewable energy projects, Prime Minister Raila Odinga said. The sale will be this year or early in 2011, Odinga said in a statement prepared in response to questions from Bloomberg News. Kenya joins Angola, Tanzania, Nigeria and Senegal among African nations planning to tap the international bond market for the first time as stronger growth in developing economies and higher yields on debt securities help lure investors. Kenya canceled a planned USD500 million bond issue in 2008 as the global financial crisis caused credit markets to shut down and raised the cost of borrowing. The bond proceeds will help with a government target to double total installed power capacity over the next three years, exploiting mainly renewable sources such as geothermal projects and wind farms, Odinga said. (Bloomberg)
