NAIROBI, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's economy will grow at 6 percent in 2016 and 6.4 percent in 2017 buoyed by renewed interest in newly discovered oil and gas, investments in a Chinese-funded high-speed railway and improved security boosting tourism, the African Development Bank (AfDB) said.
AfDB Regional Representative Gabriel Negatu said economy was expected to grow to 6 percent from 5.5 percent in 2015, based on the assumptions that rainfall would continue to lift agriculture production, leading to a low food prices and low inflation and low global oil prices.
"For the second year, infrastructure and regional integration registered the highest score of 4.62 up from 4.6 in 2014 but still being the second best in Africa," Negatu said during the launch of the report in Nairobi on Thursday, referring to a new system of grading countries based on state policy and how national institutions manage national affairs.
The AfDB said Kenya remains "strong" in debt management, monetary policy and fiscal stability, against widely held views among economic analysts the country's public debt was ballooning beyond control.
The China Exim Bank is financing Kenya's Standard Gauge Railway Project, estimated to cost 3.6 billion U.S. dollars.
The project has been hailed for increasing Kenya's profile as an attractive destination for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Africa.
The Chinese bank agreed to provide 90 percent funding while the Kenyan government meets 10 percent of the financing needs of the project cost, according to an agreement signed on May 11, 2014.
Saitoti Torome, Principal Secretary at the Kenyan State Department of Planning, said the AfDB estimation of the country's economic growth potential was accurate.
He said to the government has already reported 5.8 percent economic growth rate in the first few months of 2016.
"We are setting a base for industrialization by investing in these large scale infrastructure projects. That is why we are investing in energy projects to reduce the cost of power because high energy costs discourage industrialization," Torome said.
The officials spoke during the launch of a report authored by the bank, assessing the status of the African economies in the past year.
