Monday, March 25, 2024 - The World Bank has announced that it will be posting a list of debt defaulters starting next week.
This was revealed by World Bank President Ajay Banga who was speaking at the China Development Forum.
According to Banga, publishing a defaulter list is part of a wider scope to make publicly available proprietary data routinely.
The rationale of this decision is to attract more private-sector investment to developing countries like Kenya.
While the World Bank, which is the biggest lender to Kenya, has been key in funding development projects in emerging economies, Abanga noted that the bank was taking action on several fronts to overcome barriers holding back private sector investment in third-world countries.
For the last two decades, the World Bank observed that developing countries had an average growth rate of between 4 and 6 per cent which does not instill private sector investment confidence.
Kenya on its part, is expected to see its economy grow by 5 per cent in 2024 which is among the highest growth rates in the African continent.
With the World Bank’s decision, Kenya will need to religiously honour its debt obligations to get a positive rating and attract more private investors.
As of June 2023, Kenya had an outstanding loan of Ksh1.6 trillion from Word Bank subsidiaries.
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