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The United States and Kenya agreed to launch the Nairobi-Washington Vision as a call to action to the international community.
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The vision seeks to bring together all its tools to support countries with high ambition concerning investments in their development.
Image: PCS
Presidents Joe Biden and William Ruto have agreed to tackle the challenge of debt, development and sustainable finance.
"Countries should not have to make the difficult choice between paying back creditors and investing in their people, economy and future," the White House said in a statement.
In a statement, the White House said mounting debt burdens put critical investments in countries’ sustainable development and ability to address global challenges like the clean energy transition out of reach.
The United States and Kenya agreed to launch the Nairobi-Washington Vision as a call to action to the international community.
The vision seeks to bring together all its tools to support countries with high ambition concerning investments in their development.
It seeks to address global challenges that are too often constrained by high debt burdens.
The vision calls upon international financial institutions to provide coordinated packages of support for creditor countries to provide forms of debt relief.
In addition, it seeks multilateral development banks and development finance institutions to facilitate private sector financing on better terms.
It also appeals to creditors to provide more transparent and sustainable lending.
"Through efforts to evolve the multilateral development banks, the United States has worked with Kenya and other shareholders to secure reforms to unlock over $250 billion in new lending at these institutions," the White House said.
The United States intends to make available in the coming weeks lending of up to $21 billion to the International Monetary Fund’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust to support the poorest countries and has made available this week $250 million through the World Bank’s International Development Association Crisis Response Window to support crisis response in the world’s poorest countries.
"President Biden has asked Congress for funding in the FY 2025 budget that would enable $36 billion in new lending at the World Bank that, together with contributions from international partners, could provide an additional $100 billion boost to World Bank financing capacity over time," the White House said.
"Both Kenya and the United States stand in support of an ambitious policy and financing package for the replenishment of the World Bank’s International Development Association."
The White House said with strong support from the United States, the IMF has doubled Kenya’s total program financing from $2.2 billion over three years to $4.4 billion over four years.
"Robust U.S. financial support has enabled World Bank financing to Kenya, including through increased funding at IDA and the World Bank’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development," the White House said.
The United States championed the expansion to select countries in Sub-Saharan Africa of the European Bank for Reconstruction (EBRD) and Development, where the United States is the largest shareholder.
The United States and Kenya worked together to successfully secure Kenya’s membership in the EBRD, which would be a boost to private sector development in the country once Kenya is granted recipient country status.