UPDATE 2-World Bank approves Kenya budget support and sustainability loans

Adds detail on sustainability loan in paragraph 1 and bullets 5-6

- The World Bank said on Tuesday that it had approved a $750 million budget support loan for Kenya and a sustainability-linked facility that will reduce the country's reliance on expensive domestic debt and bolster economic reforms.

  • The budget support is known as a Development Policy Operation (DPO).

  • It will come in the form of a $340 million International Bank for Reconstruction and Development loan and $410 million in highly concessional International Development Association funding, the World Bank said in a statement.

  • This will be the seventh DPO Kenya has received since its first one in 2018.

  • The East African nation's public finances are under pressure because of heavy debt and wide fiscal deficits.

  • The sustainability-linked facility is structured as a syndicated loan targeting roughly $500 million. It will be supported by credit enhancement that reduces investor risk and lowers Kenya's borrowing cost.

  • The World Bank said the sustainability loan was designed to help diversify Kenya's funding mix and deliver on targets to reduce rates of deforestation and increase rural electricity access.