The World Bank has invested Ksh 20 Billion in Kenya to scale up existing domestic capital and credit aimed at fostering business growth.
In a statement issued Monday, Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria said the decision to extend the sum to Kenya had been reached after a meeting between the World Bank and the Board of Kenya Development Corporation (KDC) which he chaired.
The Ksh20 billion will be disbursed to Kenya through four projects that will target job creation, entrepreneurship and marginalized communities like pastoralists.
The meeting also resolved to fast-track World Bank projects in the country, including the Kenya Industry and Entrepreneurship Project (KIEP) and De-risking, Inclusion and Value Enhancement of Pastoral Economies in the Horn of Africa (DRIVE).
Conversely, the Kenya Jobs and Economic Transformation (KJET) Project and Supporting Access to Finance and Enterprise Recovery (SAFER) Projects will also be fast tracked as per the meeting's deliberations.
The DRIVE project, will focus on providing support to pastoralist communities through insurance, digital accounts, capital, loans, and access to markets.
The second project, SAFER, aims to aid Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) that were adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in their recovery and growth.
The ongoing Kenya Industry and Entrepreneurship Project (KIEP) will continue its efforts to promote industrialisation in the SME sector. Its primary focus is to enhance innovation capacity and foster stronger market linkages for players in the Kenyan entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Meanwhile, the Kenya Jobs and Economic Transformation (KJET) project will contribute to enhancing Kenya's competitiveness in the MSME sector through targeted business climate reforms.
This comes even as the Bretton Wood institution continues to extend various forms of financial support to Kenya.
In May, 2023, the World Bank announced that it had approved a Ksh 138.5 billion loan to help Kenya ease its debt burden and strengthen its weakening currency.
In a statement, the institution stated that the funds would be channeled through a Development Policy Operations (DPO) instrument.
