Renewal of Creditworthiness for Counties

Preparation for renewal of the credit rating of Bungoma, Kisumu and Makueni counties is underway. The renewal of the ratings of these counties is due by March 2021.

This process is part of the County Creditworthiness Initiative whose main objective is to as­sist County Governments access financing through the capital market for purposes of public infrastructure development and service de­livery. The first step towards accessing financing for counties is to enhance the creditworthiness of County Governments.

Specifically, CCI aims to achieve the following outcomes:

(i) a strengthened financial management system in the counties as may be necessary for market access;

(ii) a capital market that is ready for county borrowing;

(iii) a reformed fiscal decentralization structure that supports responsible borrowing regulated by market discipline; and

(iv) Institutionalize framework that can oversee a sustainable county government borrowing.

The Creditworthiness initiative adopted the following steps: –

(i) County self-assessment on creditworthiness.

(ii) Creditworthiness masterclass academy which was a 5-day workshop,

(iii) Post academy work planning – development of detailed work plan to guide post academy engagement with coun­ties during technical assistance,

(iv) Shadow credit rating

(v) Technical assistance – support to counties and other na­tional government agencies, and

(vi) Knowledge & Outreach – documentation of learning points and development of reference materials placed in accessible repositories.