Bloomberg -- International Finance Corp., the World Bank’s private investment arm, plans to double lending commitments to five East African nations in the year through June 2011, much of it in energy and agricultural projects.

Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi will receive investment pledges of about $300 million in the period, compared with $150 million a year earlier, Aida Kimemia, IFC principal investment officer in Kenya, said in an interview in the capital, Nairobi, today.

"There are signs which are very positive for the region’s economy,” Kimemia said.

Faster growth in East Africa has put energy supplies under strain, while rising global food demand is attracting increased investment in agriculture. Kenya, East Africa’s largest economy, will expand about 4.1 percent this year, from 2.4 percent a year earlier, while growth in Tanzania, the region’s second-biggest economy, accelerates to 6.5 percent from 6 percent, the International Monetary Fund said on Oct. 6.

The Washington-based lender made commitments to invest a record $2.4 billion in sub-Saharan Africa in the 2009-10 fiscal year as governments implemented more business-friendly policies, Jean Philippe Prosper, IFC director for eastern and southern Africa, said on Aug. 31.

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