African Development Bank to Give Kenya a $930 Million Development Package

The African Development Bank will give Kenya $930 million to help boost the country’s employment and economic plan. According to Gabriel Negatu, regional director for AfDB’s Eastern African resource center, “The country strategy paper, which covers a period of five years, responds to Kenya’s emerging challenges. The strategy paper comes at a time when Kenya has just completed a peaceful political transition, while at the same time is undergoing a major devolution exercise… it has managed to maintain stable macroeconomic fundamentals and prudent policies, and most recently the discovery of various natural resources.”

AfDB’s board recently approved the country strategy paper for Kenya, which agrees to provide support from 2014 to 2018. Negatu went on to explain, “The AfDB has multiple roles. We are known for being the premier financial institution in Africa, but some of the other roles that we play is of course lending to the private sector window, and the non-lending activities that we bring.”

He also added, “One of our core activities in the next few years will be to become the institution that convenes, connects and catalyses the engagement of the private sector in Kenya’s development.” Going forward, the AfDB will syndicate the loans, organize financers and create the financial package.

“In addition to the lending, we also help the private sector grow by policy dialogue with government, to ensure that the enabling environment is up to standard,” Negatu advised. He also pointed out, “In Kenya, the enabling environment still needs some refining, particularly in the extractive sector. We need to see some work on regulations, so we are also helping the private sector in that respect.”

Source: AFK Insider