NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 14 – Kenya is among the African countries with improved quality of policies and institutions.
According to the latest review by the World Bank, Kenya’s Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) score was 3.7 in 2017 from 3.3 in 2016 with behind Senegal and Rwanda posting a 3.8 and 4.0 score respectively.
Kenya’s highest performing institutions were under the economic management scoring 4.0 while the lowest was the public sector management cluster at 3.4.
The study, which covered 38 countries in 2017, found that African countries had a more favorable global environment that provided them with space to implement reforms
It also found that nearly 30 percent more countries had strengthened their policy and institutional quality in 2017 compared with 2016.
In 2017, the regional CPIA score was 3.1, which was lower than the average of 3.2 for other International Development Association countries (the poorest countries in the world as per World Bank estimates).
The review rates countries on a scale of 1 (low) to 6 (high) across 16 dimensions reflecting economic management, structural policies, policies for social inclusion and equity, and public sector management and institutions pillar.
“In 2017, African countries had a more favorable global environment that provided them with space to implement reforms,” explained Punam Chuhan-Pole, lead economist and lead author of the report.
“According to our analysis, nearly 30 percent more countries strengthened their policy and institutional quality in 2017 compared with 2016. This is an encouraging trend,” he added
Favorable global economic conditions supported a turnaround in economic activity in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2017, easing pressure on weak policy frameworks.
Since 1980, CPIA scores are used in determining IDA countries allocation of resources to the poorest countries. They are also useful for monitoring country progress and benchmarking it against progress in other IDA-eligible countries.
