The latest African Development Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) gives Kenya a score of 4.3, an improvement from 3.73 in 2005 out of a possible six points.

The CPIA is a rating against five criteria – economic management, structural policies, policies for social inclusion and equity, governance; and, infrastructure and regional integration.

“Infrastructure and regional integration registered the highest score of 4.6, being the second best in Africa,” said the AfDB.

The bank recommended further improvement, through a better road network, to increase Kenya’s share of paved roads to above seven per cent, development of a mass transit system in urban areas and more investment in environment-friendly infrastructure.

“Structural policies including financial, trade and business regulatory policies scored 4.3 and ranked Kenya at position two in Africa,” said the AfDB.

The bank released the scores during a press conference held at its east African regional offices in Nairobi Tuesday.

To improve on the financial sector, the bank recommended that Kenya continues monitoring its stock of non-performing loans, especially in lending to agriculture, tourism and construction.

The institution noted the sectors are often adversely affected by weather, insecurity and delayed payment to contractors.

“Kenya needs to continue expanding access to finance… improving the business environment including ease of registration of business and exit,” said the AfDB.

The lowest score for Kenya was in the area of governance where it was ranked 11th in Africa.

It scored 3.9 points largely due to corruption, insecurity and questions around land titles.

The country scored 4.3 points on economic management, placing it ninth in the continent.

“While the country is strong in debt management, monetary policy and fiscal stability, a few areas remain to be tackled.

‘‘These include taming the fiscal deficit which currently stands at more than eight per cent, improving tax collection as already proposed by the Treasury by addressing tax evasion and the wage bill which currently remains sustainable,” said AfDB.

In social inclusion and equity Kenya scored 4.3 points, putting it fourth in Africa. AfDB noted that Kenya had put in place good programmes to address gender and regional inequality such as Uwezo and Youth Enterprise funds.