Kenya to receive $750 million from World Bank

The World Bank has approved a $750 million loan for Kenya, aimed at supporting the East African country’s 2022 budget.

Kenya would have to carry out some necessary reforms in its public procurement procedures, aimed at curtailing corruption as a condition to for the approval of the money.

The world bank recommends that Kenya establishes an electronic platform for public procurements. The goal for this is to encourage transparency, thus limiting corruption.

“By the end of 2023, the program aims to have five strategically selected ministries, departments, and agencies, procuring all goods and services through the electronic procurement platform.”

The $750 million loan that has been approved is the second tranche of a credit facility that was launched for Kenya in 2020, after the East African country qualified for the World Bank’s Development Policy Operations (DPO). The DPO programme makes it possible for the World Bank to lend directly to government treasuries, instead of financing particular projects.

The first tranche of the credit facility was disbursed to Kenya in June 2021. The loan comes with an annual interest rate of 3.0%.

Early last month, the Kenyan Government announced that it was planning to expand its 2022 budget, by spending an additional $956.7 million.

Like most African countries, Kenya already owes a lot of debts. Statistics obtained from Statista put the country’s gross debt in relation to GDP at 69.7% as of 2021.