Corruption in Kenya Taking Massive Toll on Economic Growth, Warns World Bank

Corruption is costing Kenya billions of dollars each year in lost revenue, inflated business costs, and lost earnings for workers, while taking a huge toll on investment and economic growth, the World Bank said in a report published Wednesday. Kenya suffers corruption at every level of society – from endless petty bribes paid to traffic police, to vast procurement scandals that go to the top of government, and it has contributed to massive protests over the past two years. The World Bank report said the east African country is among the most corrupt of its peers among lower middle-income countries, and estimates that the governance weaknesses are adding around 370 billion shillings (€2.4 billion) every year to Kenya’s fiscal deficit, equivalent to two percent of GDP. This figure, which its authors describe as “conservative”, comes from lost taxes, inefficient public spending, higher borrowing costs, and other issues caused by corruption. … Its modelling shows Kenya’s economy could be more than 20 times larger by 2035 if it introduced the sort of anti-corruption reforms seen in countries like Ghana and Senegal, and add 7.7 million more and better jobs. (RFI)