Kenya is set to benefit from a KES 369.9 billion ($3 billion) programme from African Export-Import (Afrexim) Bank.
This was announced during a meeting between President William Ruto and Prof Benedict Okey Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the African Export-Import Bank.
During the meeting held at State House Nairobi on Thursday, Prof Oramah said the bank was excited by the opportunity to roll out this package of financing as part of its efforts to support Kenya as it navigates the current unprecedented global economic challenges.
“We had a very good meeting with President Ruto and agreed that we needed to reset the relationship between Afreximbank and Kenya,’ Prof Benedict Okey Oramah.
Speaking of the meeting, Dr Ruto said the engagement was fruitful and would enable Kenya to interact more with one of Africa’s leading development finance institutions.
“This will allow us to expand our engagement with Afreximbank on several investment areas such as infrastructure, agriculture, commercial irrigation, housing, the creative industry and the MSME ecosystem,” Dr Ruto said.
A technical team drawn from the Kenyan government and Afeximbank is expected to begin working on the structure of the support.
A significant part of the support will involve the establishment of a Kenya Climate Change Adaptation Facility.
Underpinning this, Afreximbank will put in place Sh98.64 million $800 million financing towards building 100 dams which will help Kenya double its irrigated area while paying particular attention to regions experiencing water shortages as a result of the impact of climate change.
” We are proud to be using Kenya to launch the Afreximbank Climate Change Adaptation Facility under which we plan to disburse over Sh616.5 billion ($5 billion) in the 5 years to 2026 under Afreximbank’s 6th Strategic Plan,” Prof Benedict Okey Oramah.
Under this scheme, Kenya plans to double the land area under irrigation from the current 670,000 acres to 1.4 million acres in the next three years.
This is aimed at improving the country’s food production while reducing its overreliance on rain-fed agriculture.
Read also; Afrexim Bank To Set up Office in Nairobi.
