NAIROBI, June 1 (Reuters) – Kenya’s finance minister has asked parliament to let the East African economy raise its debt ceiling to 10 trillion shillings ($85.69 billion) from 9 trillion, two newspapers announced on Wednesday.

The Business Daily and Daily Nation said National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani had asked parliament to amend the Public Finance Management Act to allow more borrowing to fund the budget until June 2023.

Yatani did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The 2022/23 budget of 3.3 trillion shillings runs a deficit of 6.2% of gross domestic product. Read the full story

In December, Yatani said the government intended to replace its nominal public debt ceiling with a debt-to-GDP anchor by the end of June. Read the full story

This year, the Ministry of Finance said it wanted to set the debt ceiling at 55% of GDP, with the requirement of a reasonable explanation to lawmakers if the debt were to increase. Read the full story

At the end of 2019, Kenya raised its debt ceiling to 9 trillion shillings, from 6 trillion earlier.

President Uhuru Kenyatta ramped up borrowing when he took office in 2013, pushing debt to the current level of over 60% of GDP, from just over 40% when he took office.

Political critics accuse Kenyatta’s government of imposing high repayment obligations on the country, criticisms which he dismissed by saying the borrowed funds financed infrastructure projects such as the railways essential to ensure the expansion economic.

($1 = 116.7000 Kenyan shillings)