Kenya Receives Sh.80.9Billion World Bank Loan to Help Recovery from Covid-19 Effects
Kenya has received Sh80.9 billion ($750 million) loan from the World Bank to help its budget and help the E. African economy recover from the adverse effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the multilateral lender said on Friday.
Gathogo Wanjiru 
The government has been pushing hard to secure foreign loans to fill a wide budget deficit before the financial year ends this month.
The loan received is part of the World Bank’s Development Policy Operations (DPO), which lends cash for budget support instead of financing specific projects.
The multinational lender said some of the funds would go towards setting up an electronic procurement system for government goods and services to improve transparency.
The World Bank said the concessional loan will have a 3.1% annual interest rate.
World Bank loans typically have very low interest rates and have repayment periods of 25 to 40 years, with a five- or 10-year grace period.
On Thursday, Treasury CS Ukur Yatani presented to parliament the 2021/22 budget allocations, with a deficit of 7.5% of the GDP reduced from 8.7% for the current fiscal year ending this month.
