The proposed loan to the Republic of Kenya for 188 million Euros is to finance the COVID-19 Emergency Response Support Program in Kenya. 

The project is designed as a Crisis Response Budget Support. The program results from a request of the Government of Kenya dated 17th April 2020 and was appraised on 18 to 20 April 2020. The design of the program considered good practice principles on conditionality. The purpose of the program is to support the Government of Kenya’s efforts to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and to mitigate its economic and social impacts. The operational policy objectives of the program are:(i) to strengthen the health system for an effective response to the pandemic;(ii) to strengthen economic resilience against the pandemic; and (iii) enhance ability by the poor and the vulnerable to cope with the impact of the pandemic. The expected outcomes of the program are:(i) enhanced capacity to conduct targeted testing and containment of COVID-19; (ii) increase in the number of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)) protected; and (iii) increase in the percentage of the vulnerable population(including female) covered by social safety nets.

The goal of the ERSP operation is to support the Government of Kenya’s efforts to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and to mitigate its economic and social impacts.Consistent with the Government’s plan to address the crisis, the operational policy objectives of the program are to; (i) strengthen the health system for an effective response; (ii) strengthen economic resilience against the pandemic; and (ii) enhance ability by the poor and the vulnerable to cope with the impact of the pandemic. The program consists of three broad mutually reinforcing components namely: (i) strengthening the health system for an effective response, (ii) strengthening economic resilience against COVID-19 shocks; and (iii) enhancing social protection against COVID-19 impact. The three components reinforce each other in that component 1 seeks to contain the spread of the virus and lay a foundation for return to normalcy for businesses and livelihoods; component 2 focuses on economic resilience by supporting fiscal measures to keep businesses afloat during and after the pandemic; while component 3 seeks to protect the vulnerable not to dispose their assets and slide into poverty.