The Government of Kenya has developed a database for estimating the National Parameters, Economic Opportunity Cost of Labour (EOCL), Social Value of Time and the Commodity-Specific Conversion Factors (CSCFs). These estimates are then put together in the National Parameters Database.

The CSCFs are used to translate market prices for goods and services into corresponding economic value by accounting for various distortions that are present in the Kenyan economy such as taxes, subsidies, monopolies, etc.  The database contains CSCFs for all tradable commodities (6300), listed under the Harmonized System for classifying goods.

The web-based application allows analysts to easily locate a particular good, either using HS code or the name of the commodity. The CSCFs estimates, therefore, greatly save time that would otherwise be spent to complete economic appraisal of an investment project as the estimates are readily available for an analyst.

Moreover, it also greatly improves the consistency of project appraisal across all MDAs as major inputs required to transit from financial into economic appraisal is now standardized. It should be noted that the toolkit provides great flexibility, allowing the analyst to easily update any of the parameters used for calculation import/export duties and excise duties.