Kenya eying another $750 million from World Bank to stabilise the economy, National Treasury CS Njuguna Ndung'u has revealed.
Speaking at the launch of the World Bank's Country Partnership Framework for 2023-28 in Nairobi on Tuesday, Ndung'u said they however willing to get $1 billion.
"We have been trying to negotiate this to $1 billion but World Bank has been adamant," Ndung'u said.
The appeal for the new facility is coming nine months after the lender gave Kenya a similar amount to help accelerate ongoing inclusive and resilient recovery from the Covid-19 crisis.
The $750 million approved by World Bank in March was part of the Development Policy Operation that intended to help strengthen fiscal sustainability through reforms that contribute to greater transparency and the fight against corruption.
The DPO is the second in a two-part series of development operations initiated in 2020 that provides low-cost budget financing along with support to key policy and institutional reforms.
The DPO organises the multi-sector reforms into three pillars: fiscal and debt reforms, electricity sector and public-private partnership reforms and strengthening the governance framework of Kenya’s natural and human capital.
In 2021, Kenya received a Sh80.9 billion ($750 million) loan from the World Bank to support its budget and help the East African economy recover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The government has been pushing hard to secure low-cost foreign funding at the time interest rates in the domestic debt market are ranging at a high of 14 per cent.
