World Bank and AfDB Open the Taps for Nigeria and Kenya With Fresh Development Loans

Multilateral lenders are stepping up support for two of Africa's largest economies, with the World Bank approving a $1.25 billion development loan for Nigeria and the African Development Bank backing a string of projects in both Nigeria and Kenya spanning energy, industry and digital infrastructure.

The World Bank's loan to Nigeria, announced at the start of July, adds to a growing portfolio of support aimed at shoring up the country's economic reforms. Separately, the African Development Bank has approved $200 million for Nigeria's Bank of Industry to expand access to long-term financing for enterprises in key growth sectors, and another $200 million to help deploy 90,000 kilometres of open-access fibre nationwide — an ambitious digital-infrastructure push intended to expand connectivity and create jobs.

In Kenya, the AfDB has approved a $16.5 million loan to support a 35-megawatt geothermal power plant, part of the country's push to expand baseload renewable generation and accelerate its clean-energy transition. The bank also signed a $150 million green-finance deal with KCB Bank to support climate-smart lending to small businesses and corporate clients — a mechanism designed to channel concessional-style financing through commercial banking networks rather than direct government lending alone.

Taken together, the financing reflects a deliberate strategy by development lenders: rather than funding governments alone, they are increasingly working through commercial banks, state-owned enterprises and targeted infrastructure projects to reach businesses and communities more directly. For both Nigeria and Kenya, the inflows offer support for ambitions — from digital connectivity to renewable power — that domestic budgets alone would struggle to finance.