The World Bank has listed seven laws and four policy reforms it wants implemented before it can release a Sh96.9 billion ($750 million) loan to Kenya.
The multilateral lender reckons it will release the billions of shillings once Kenya amends its Competition Act to strengthen regulations that will control the operations of firms with dominant market shares.
It wants Kenya to allow refugees to register for mobile telephony services and M-Pesa and a policy that eases urban transport decongestion and pushes city dwellers to use rail and guidelines on sustainability bonds.
The World Bank made the revelations after the Treasury said it had issued fresh conditions to Kenya, delaying the disbursement of the loan that was expected before the end of June 2025.
The lender wants full use of e-procurement to curb graft in the purchase of goods and services in government, as well as for all government bank accounts to be housed at the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and not spread across commercial banks.
Discussions with the World Bank continue at a time when Kenya is also engaged with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a new funded programme to tap additional cheap financing.
The World Bank previously froze the disbursement after Kenya failed to pass key legislation preventing conflict of interest within the public service and enhancing social protections for vulnerable Kenyans.
Kenya has since met the demands after Parliament passed a new Conflict of Interest Bill and the Social Protection Bill, both of which are now Acts of Parliament after President William Ruto assented to the legislation.
Now, the World Bank says it wants regulations supporting the implementation of the two Acts ahead of the release of the billions of shillings.
‘Outstanding prior actions include further implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and e-Government Procurement, and a framework for faster approval of County Government Additional Allocations Bills,’ a World Bank Spokesperson told the Business Daily in emailed responses.
‘(Other prior actions include) regulations to the Conflict of Interest Act, regulations to the Social Protection Act, regulations to the County Licensing (Uniform Procedures Law), amendments to the Competition Act, updated Kenya Information and Communications Regulations, the urban transport policy, amendments to the Forest Conservation and Management Act and the sovereign sustainability-linked financing framework.’
The Conflict of Interest Act seeks to stop government officials with large private sector interests from continuing to influence and benefit from public procurement, while the social protection law obligates the national government and counties to create an enhanced single registry (ESR) to deliver cash transfers to the poor and vulnerable.
Kenya has also struggled to implement both the Treasury single account (TSA) and e-procurement, placing the World Bank DPO financing at risk.
World Bank officials have held meetings with Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi and National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula to hasten the fulfilment of the trigger actions to unlock the financing.
The multilateral lender says Kenya cannot renegotiate the facility, implying that the country must abide by the agreed conditions to unlock further funding or risk the cancellation of the three-year facility.
Kenya reached a three-year DPO financing pact with the World Bank in June last year, where the multilateral made an initial Sh155 billion ($1.2 billion) disbursement.
Subsequent releases from the instrument are tied to the attainment of the policy and institutional reforms.
Kenya has programmed to receive Sh170.5 billion from the World Bank’s development policy operation (DPO) in the current financial year, with a similar amount expected in the fiscal years to June 2030.
Increased reliance on the World Bank comes as financing from the IMF remains in limbo.
Kenya remains undecided on whether it needs a new funding programme from the IMF despite initiating discussions on a new deal.
Some officials prefer that Kenya remain without a new IMF programme to wean itself off the support of the fund as it eyes upper-middle income status.
‘I don’t think we have a meeting of minds internally on why we need it (the IMF programme),’ David Ndii, the chairperson of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, said earlier.
‘In the long haul, our goal is to transition from a lower-middle-income to an upper-middle-income country. Part of that means being more market-facing than seeking multilateral financing.’
The Treasury has not budgeted for IMF financing, previously noting the need to manage expectations on the outcome of fresh discussions.
‘We are being very cautious because before you get into an arrangement with the IMF, you can’t start assuming that you will get funding. But it doesn’t mean that we are terminating our programme with the IMF,’ Mr Mbadi said previously.
The World Bank and the IMF are Kenya’s key sources of cheap financing outside of bilateral support.
Kenya has increased its borrowing from the pair in recent years as it seeks to avoid relatively costly credit from alternatives such as Eurobonds and syndicated loans.
This has enhanced the influence of the multilateral lenders on Kenya’s policy.
The World Bank is the bigger lender of the two, with outstanding loans of Sh1.66 trillion as at the end of September 2025.
Borrowings from the IMF meanwhile stand at Sh477.2 billion.
The government is seeking to diversify its sources of cheap financing, eyeing sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs) and debt for development swaps.
The World Bank is expected to support Kenya in issuing its first SLB in March next year, which has been estimated at Sh65 billion.