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{
    "id": 1549961,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1549961/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 240,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Gatanga, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Wakili Edward Muriu",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "America, Europe for Europe and China for China. Therefore, it is high time African countries created their own financial institution to support their needs and growth and to ensure financing comes without strings attached. I appreciate the fact that the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), being a total financial development institution, is dedicated to infrastructure financing in Africa, primarily through debt and equity. The Corporation is focused on bridging Africa's large infrastructure deficit by financing projects that have a high developmental impact on the economies of African countries. The Corporation also acts as both a lender and an advisor to clients in Africa, offering project management services and structured debt financing. Kenya would gain access to a steady and significant source of capital for large-scale infrastructure projects. We have an issue as a country. As reported in the papers yesterday, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) was very busy this week and raised about Ksh70 billion. The interest rate on that money is between 13 and 14 per cent. We have infrastructure bonds to build our roads, which this country is paying back at an interest rate of between 18 and 19 per cent. That is not sustainable. Therefore, the Africa Finance Corporation is coming in to plug the gap, so that we can deal with those expensive short-term debts. Incidentally, because the United States of America (USA) has withdrawn its financing to African countries through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), it is high time we looked at this issue more critically and created our own financing platform. This country is struggling with things like the expansion of our airport. The AFC comes in as a panacea because its role is to finance long-term and high-impact infrastructure projects. For projects like the Rironi-Mau Summit Road, which we have been struggling with for years, the AFC will come in and plug in its own money to construct an expressway from Rironi to Nakuru, Eldoret and Mau Summit, and possibly extend it all the way to Kisumu. How good it is that the AFC is incorporating the private sector in its capital raising to the extent that our local banks and investors will have an opportunity to not only participate in capital raising, but also in the journey of creating employment for our youth."
}