A damning new report has laid bare a troubling reality for Kenyans: the government is channelling nearly three times more public revenue into external debt repayments than it spends on healthcare. The findings, contained in a study titled “Still Cooking with a Failed Recipe,” cast a harsh light on the International Monetary Fund’s policy prescriptions and their toll on ordinary citizens.
The analysis scrutinised 29 IMF programme documents spanning 11 countries over a three-year period between February 2022 and February 2025. Researchers established that 73% of IMF recommendations pushed for fiscal consolidation — effectively advising governments to cut spending and clamp down on wage growth — while doing very little to support the expansion of public services that millions of people depend on.
For Kenya, the numbers are stark. The country currently devotes 29% of government revenue to servicing external debt, compared to just 9% allocated to health and 18% to education. The report warns that IMF-backed restrictions on public sector hiring and limits on wage growth risk worsening existing shortages of teachers and nurses at a time when demand for such services continues to climb.
The burden of austerity falls unevenly, the report notes, with women bearing a disproportionate share of the pain. Because women make up large portions of the workforce in health, education, and social services, policies that freeze hiring or suppress wages in those sectors hit female workers — and the communities they serve — hardest.
Critics also point to an apparent double standard in how the IMF treats wealthier economies versus developing nations. The United Kingdom, which spends 15.9% of its GDP on public sector salaries, is actively encouraged to expand investment. By contrast, Nigeria and Nepal, spending just 1.9% and 2.5% of GDP respectively on their public workforces, face pressure to contain expenditure. Kenya finds itself in a similar bind — urged to tighten its belt while high-income countries face no such demands.
ActionAid Secretary-General Arthur Larok did not mince his words. “The IMF has become a debt enforcer rather than a development partner,” he said — a charge that resonates deeply in a country where debt obligations continue to crowd out spending on citizens’ basic needs.
The report calls on governments, Kenya included, to pursue progressive taxation, push for comprehensive debt restructuring, and significantly increase investment in essential public services. Its central argument is blunt: Kenya cannot achieve sustainable development while debt repayments continue to take precedence over investments in people — and for many Kenyans already stretched thin by the rising cost of living, that message could not be more urgent.
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