Nairobi skyline Image Co: Willy Abuga

A World Bank report commended president Uhuru’s government for making progress in economy management, with a score of 4.3 (in a scale of 6) against the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) average score of 3.3.

According to the 2015 Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) Results for Africa by Bretton Woods institution, Kenya scores highly on debt, fiscal and exchange rate policies.

However, the report notes that fiscal deficits across the countries sampled including Kenya have widened recently. The report attributes the country’s case to the cost of devolution

“In Kenya, fiscal pressure built up, emanating from the costs of rollout of devolution, increased security spending, infrastructure spending, and the rising wage bill (the wage bill rose from 6.5 percent in 2012/13 to 7.4 percent of GDP in 2013/14) at both levels of government. The increase in government spending outpaced the growth in revenue, widening the fiscal deficit to 6.2 percent in 2013/14,” it says.

The country also fairs well in policies on Trade, Financial Sector and Business Regulatory Environment.

The CPIA Africa report describes the progress African countries are making on strengthening the quality of their policies and institutions. It presents CPIA scores for the 38 African countries that are eligible for support from the International Development Association (IDA), the concessional financing arm of the World Bank Group

“The average CPIA score for Sub-Saharan African countries was 3.2 in 2014, the same as for 2013. The range of scores for the 38 IDA countries in the region widened slightly, as Rwanda’s aggregate score climbed to 4.0 (figure 3). Other relatively high scorers were Cabo Verde (3.9), closely followed by Kenya, Senegal, and Tanzania, all with scores of 3.8. The low end of the score range was unchanged at 2, with South Sudan slipping to the bottom,” the report reads in part.

Kenya however performed low on Transparency, Accountability and Corruption in Public Sector.

“Governance quality and performance is viewed as a transformational element for future social and economic development and resource mobilization because of its potential to shape the relationship between the state and society, and encourage more foreign and local investments in Sub-Saharan Africa by reducing risks and enhancing security,” the report reads.