KENGEFIP II: strengthening and greening public finance management in Kenya

Sustained growth, significant public financing needs, and increasing exposure to the effects of climate change mean that Kenya faces major challenges in debt sustainability and mobilisation of green finance.

It’s against this backdrop that the KENGEFIP II project is being financed by Agence Française de Développement and implemented by Expertise France. This programme follows initial technical support conducted between 2021 and 2023, which helped establish a lasting relationship of trust with the Kenyan National Treasury.

The KENGEFIP II project has three complementary objectives:

1. Strengthen public debt management: support is provided to the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO) to modernise its practices and to improve its governance, financial risk management, and transparency vis-à-vis investors.
2. Promote access to climate finance: the project supports the Kenyan authorities in developing innovative climate finance tools, such as sustainable bonds (sustainability-linked financing) as well as in mainstreaming environmental criteria into budget programming.
3. Ensure coordination among actors: actions are set up to facilitate dialogue between Kenyan government administrations, technical and financial partners, and public institutions involved in public finance reforms.

Since its launch in 2024, KENGEFIP II has enabled several significant advances.

Modernisation of the public debt

• organisational audits carried out on the Public Debt Management Office;
• capacity-building for teams on financial market tools;
• training on debt management software;
• development of a business continuity plan to strengthen institutional resilience.

Transparency and public communication

In 2026, a French expertise mission supported the Public Debt Management Office in creating its first digital portal dedicated to public debt, aimed at centralising information for investors and the general public.

Climate finance and green budgeting

The project also supports the establishment of Kenya’s first climate budgeting tools, in line with the country’s commitments to the International Monetary Fund.

Through KENGEFIP II, we are supporting the development of a future sovereign sustainable finance instrument based on measurable environmental indicators.

Against this backdrop, a technical mission organised in Nairobi in April 2026 brought together the main Kenyan institutions, the World Bank, and French experts in order to strengthen national deforestation monitoring systems.

The work undertaken involves:

• satellite imagery;
• artificial intelligence;
• LiDAR (remote sensing using radar) technologies;
• advanced carbon measurement tools.

Ultimately, this work could allow Kenya to strengthen its access to international climate finance and voluntary carbon markets.