A recent cut in US funding for combating HIV/Aids in Kenya does not amount to a scaling back of US interests in the country, the State Department’s top Africa official said on Wednesday.

“Our official government funding that we spend around the world represents a very, very small percentage of total US investment in countries,” Tibor Nagy, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, told reporters.

“A great proportion of investment in Africa comes from our private sector,” the diplomat added.

In the case of Kenya, US foreign direct investment totalled $405 million in 2017 — a 7.5 percent decrease from 2016, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative.

The US also registered $644 million in imports from Kenya in 2018 — a 12.6 percent increase from the previous year, the same source indicates.

Mr Nagy offered his comments on US government assistance and private investment in response to a journalist’s question about a sharp reduction in assistance to Kenya through the President’s Emergency Programme for Aids Relief (Pepfar).

Source: The East African

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