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World Bank to fund 359 mln USD for youth employment, health in Kenya

Xinhua, July 4, 2016 Adjust font size:

Kenya and the World Bank on Monday signed three credits and two grants agreements totaling 359.1 million U.S. dollars to finance the country's youth employment as well as health and education sectors.

Cabinet Secretary in the National Treasury, Henry Rotich, told a media briefing that the Kenya Youth Empowerment and Opportunities Project will receive 150 million dollars to assist 280,000 youth aged between 18 and 29 in accessing employment and earning opportunities.

"The youth project will respond to the high numbers of new young entrants to the labour market who are currently outpacing the capacity of the Kenyan economy to absorb them," Rotich said.

The project will also support young entrepreneurs, whose business ideas have a high potential to foster job creation and improve labor market information.

Moreover, the funding will finance the Transforming Health Systems for Universal Care Project that aims to improve the utilization and the quality of primary health care services.

"The total support of the heath project is 191.1 million dollars which consists of a loan of 150 million dollars, a grant of 40 million dollars and another grant of 1.1 million dollars," Rotich said.

The third credit of 18 million dollars will support a regional project on the Eastern and Southern Africa Higher Education Centers of Excellence.

The funding will be used by three universities that are expected to produce highly skilled graduates and applied research to address specific challenges.

Kenya and World Bank have developed Country Partnership Strategy where the bank pledged to provide support amounting to four billion dollars from 2014 to 2018.

According to the National Treasury, World Bank is currently Kenya's largest multilateral financing institution. Endit