Kenya received the fifth largest amount of foreign aid in Africa in 2022 to finance government expenses, a new report shows.
The report titled, Financing Africa: Where is the money? by Mo Ibrahim Foundation, showed that Kenya received Ksh.426 billion whereby more than half of it came from multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, and World Bank Group.
Egypt received the largest amount of financial aid of any African country, amounting to Ksh.995 billion, followed by Ethiopia which received Ksh.684 billion.
he top ten African countries, which host over 70 per cent of the continent’s population, received nearly half (46.4 per cent) of the total aid to the continent.
Overall, Africa received over 28 per cent of global financial aid, more than any other in the world region.
Does Financial Aid Money Get Lost?
According to the report, many countries encounter difficulties in absorbing donor funds because of political and administrative issues in managing investment projects.
It is estimated that between 10 per cent to 70 per cent of funds towards project financing goes unused, depending on the country.
“When it comes to loans, donors see their money tied up with no return, while beneficiaries struggle with the underutilisation of the financial resources allocated,” the report read in part.
One of the major challenges highlighted in the report is mislabelling or undistributed aid whereby donor countries don’t provide funds that they pledged.
The report noted that over Ksh.24 trillion was intended to be distributed but was not delivered.
