The rapid growth in government expenditure in Kenya has caused concern among policy makers on the implication of such growth. Over the three decades, government expenditure in the country grew at a faster rate than the growth rate of GDP. Given this fiscal scenario, an explanation of this requires studying the impact of government expenditure on economic growth. The specific objectives of the study were to: investigate the relationship between the components of government expenditure and economic growth; examine the effects of components of government expenditure on GDP growth rate; analyze the effects of government expenditure reforms on economic growth; and to draw policy implications from the findings. The data used were government expenditure components that included expenditure on government investment, physical infrastructure, education, health care, public debt servicing, economic affairs, general administration and services, defense, public order and national security, and government consumption. Sources of data were Kenya government documents and international financial statistics publications. The study applied Vector Auto Regression estimation technique using the annual time series data for the period 1963 to 2008 to evaluate the impact of government expenditure on economic growth. The Johansen cointegration tests revealed a long-run relationship between GDP growth rate and the selected components of government expenditure. Further, the Granger-Causality test indicated bi-directional causality between GDP growth rate and components of government expenditure. The results of impulse response functions and variance decomposition revealed that government expenditure on investment, physical infrastructure, education, health care, public debt servicing, economic affairs, general administration and services, defense, public order and national security and government consumption have effect on economic growth. Furthermore, the study established that expenditure reforms of budget rationalization, expenditure downsizing, privatization and governance affect economic growth. The study concludes that the composition of government expenditure and public expenditure reforms matter for economic growth.

The Banking sector acts as the life blood of modern trade and economic development. Commercial banks influence, facilitate and integrate the economic activities like resources mobilization, poverty elimination, production, and distribution of public finance. The financial performance of commercial banks has great implications in the financial sector and in the country at large, and will still remain an important subject of concern by all the stakeholders in the banking industry. In the last two decades, a lot of banking innovation has taken place in order to improve commercial banks financial performance. Branchless banking which involves the use of agency banking and electronic banking channels in the distribution of banking products and services is one such innovation. This study purpose was to evaluate the effect of branchless banking on the financial performance of commercial banks in Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to analyze the individual effects of agency banking and electronic banking channels on the financial performance of commercial banks in Kenya and the combined effect of both agency and electronic banking on the financial performance of commercial banks in Kenya. The study adopted an exploratory research design. A survey of all the 42 licensed commercial banks in Kenya was done. Both primary and secondary data on branchless banking and financial performance of banks was obtained from the individual commercial banks, Central Bank of Kenya banking annual supervision reports respectively. Return on Assets (ROA) was used as the main indicator of commercial banks financial performance. The amount of investment in agency and electronic banking was used as indicator for agency and electronic banking. Data analysis was done using SPSS and STATA statistical softwares. Descriptive statistics, diagnostic tests and tests of hypothesis were done. Data was presented using tables and charts. Study findings indicated that when used in isolation; both agency and electronic banking had a significant negative effect on the financial performance of commercial banks at 5 percent significance level. However, when agency and electronic banking channels were used together as a multichannel strategy, they had a significant positive effect on bank's financial performance at 5 percent significance level. The study recommends that for positive returns, commercial banks should invest in both agency and electronic banking as a multichannel strategy since these channels are complimentary to each other.

Project performance entails the achievement of enhanced results from the organization, teams and individuals within agreed upon goals, objectives and standards. There is increased number of projects that have failed despite advance increase in adoption of best practice. The study sought to establish determinants of the performance of Chinese funded projects in Kenya, a case of "One Belt One Road" initiative projects. It concentrated on stakeholder involvement, infrastructure, change in legislation and loans. It focused on Standard Gauge Railway Project funded by the Chinese government as part of "One Belt One Road" initiative projects. The analysis of data was carried out by use of descriptive statistics and a multiple regression analysis. It established that the selected determinants to a significant extent influenced the performance of Chinese funded projects in Kenya. It concluded that the projects embraced stakeholder involvement to a significant extent, to a great extent project policy framework on technology, has influenced project performance, and the projects relied heavily on loans from the Chinese government. The study recommends that the project management should improve stakeholder involvement, consultation and also incorporate their feedback in the project implementation cycle to foster project performance.

Since 1990 to date, a lot of banking innovation has taken place in order to improve commercial banks financial performance. Branchless banking which involves the use of agency banking and electronic banking channels in the distribution of banking products and services is one such innovation. This study investigated the role of financial inclusion on the relationship between branchless banking strategy and financial performance of commercial banks in Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to analyze the effect of agency banking and electronic banking channels on the financial performance of commercial banks in Kenya. The study also aimed at determining the mediating effect of financial inclusion on the relationship between branchless banking and financial performance of commercial banks in Kenya. The study adopted a correlational research design. A survey of all the 42 licensed commercial banks in Kenya was done. Both primary and secondary data on branchless banking and financial performance of banks was obtained from the commercial banks and Central Bank of Kenya banking annual supervision reports respectively. Return on Assets (ROA) was used as the main indicator of commercial banks financial performance. The amount of investment in agency and electronic banking was used as indicators for agency and electronic banking. Data analysis was done using SPSS and STATA statistical software. Study findings indicated that when used in isolation; both agency and electronic banking had a significant negative effect on the financial performance of commercial banks. However when agency and electronic banking channels were used together as a multichannel strategy, the effect on bank's financial performance was found to be positive and significant at the 95 percent significance level. Study findings also indicate that the strength of the relationship between branchless banking strategy and financial performance of commercial banks in Kenya depends on the level of financial inclusion. The study recommends that for positive returns, commercial banks should invest in both agency and electronic banking as a multichannel strategy since these channels are complimentary to each other and calls on the government to come up with policies to foster financial inclusion within the banking industry in order for the industry to achieve maximum returns from branchless banking strategies.

Youth employment opportunities have been the priority by the Kenyan Government over the past years, and various policies have been implemented to assure the employment opportunities growth. Economic growth is reckoned to be essential since a positive growth rate will encourage inward investment and improve revenues, which can be spent on long-term public sector works. However, youth unemployment is a consistent problematic element in Kenya, affecting the economy to a large extent. The general objective of this study is to examine the relationship between youth unemployment and economic growth in Kenya. The specific objectives of the study are to investigate the causal relationship between youth unemployment and economic growth in Kenya and to analyze the effect of economic growth on youth unemployment in Kenya. The theories studied include the theory of surplus-value, Solow-swan model, Okun's law, and Keynesian theory, which explain the aspects of unemployment and economic growth. Secondary data was collected and used to illustrate the relationship between the variables, while the methodology used was the Granger causality test and OLS. A unidirectional causal relationship existed linking the two variables, where the lags of economic growth granger cause youth unemployment, and the coefficient between the two variables was positive. Hence Okun's law coefficient didn't apply when it comes to youth unemployment as opposed to the overall unemployment. However, the coefficient was statistically significant.