World Bank offers funding boost to Kenyan ICT infrastructure

3 April 2012

The World Bank has offered financial assistance to the Kenyan government as it seeks to become the global hub for mobile phone applications, Business Daily Africa has reported.

Indeed, the Bank has provided Sh4.5 billion ($55 million) of support, with the money set to be spent on improving ICT infrastructure relating to the health and education sectors.

Long-term, the money should prove to be a huge boon for the Kenyan economy, according to the Bank.

"Information technology has on average contributed one percentage point to Kenya's growth since 2000, and opened a path for achieving remarkable improvements in transparency and also in governance," Johannes Zutt, the World Bank country director for Kenya, commented.

Meanwhile, a statement from the World Bank observed that Kenya has already gone some way towards its long-term ambition of becoming a leader in the ICT world.

Kenya, in fact, already boasts the second-fastest broadband speeds on the continent. And with the support of the World Bank, this process should be sped up considerably.

Category: ICT