Nairobi, May 14 -- The Postal Corporation of Kenya (Posta) is closing down 125 of its 625 post offices in the country to cut down on costs, in a restructuring bid meant to return the State parastatal to profitability.

Nearly half of the targeted branches have already been shut down and the rest will be closed by the end of June, effectively reducing the number of post offices by about 20 percent to 500, marking the first step in the company's cost-cutting efforts.

The closure will reduce the Postman's expenditure on commercially unviable branches, which it estimates currently stand at about 300, and cost it about Sh1.012 billion in expenses yearly.

"Keeping all 625 open in their old form would have continued to drain capital away from ...