Nairobi, Jan. 30 -- The National Treasury is working to introduce a new version of the retail bond programme that will allow Kenyans to invest as little as Sh500, in what it sees as a bid to deepen the domestic debt market and reduce reliance on more expensive commercial loans from international markets.

This will be a revised version of the botched M-Akiba bond, which failed nine years ago and had a minimum investment threshold of Sh3,000.

In the standard Treasury market, investors currently need a minimum of Sh50,000 to buy either a Treasury bill or bond. The new retail bond programme is expected to kick off in July 2027, opening access for small investors to a market with fixed returns currently ranging between 12 percent and 14 perc...