A mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday last week began a two-week visit to Kenya to conduct the third review of the country’s economy.
The mission is meeting Government officials in a bid to discuss the fate of Kenya’s access to Sh150 billion standby credit facility which is due to expire in September. The Govt had in March this year requested IMF to extend the facility for six months. In return, the Govt promised to undertake a number of reforms which included the repeal of the interest rate cap law and cutbacks in public spending.
“The IMF is in town and they are reviewing our performance. We are confident in terms of our objectives. However at this point, we don’t need the money from that perspective. We have 5.9 months of import cover. We are pretty comfortable in that sense.” Central Bank of Kenya Governor Patrick Njoroge Noted at a post MPC press conference in Nairobi on Tuesday.
Interestingly, on Friday July 20th, two days before the IMF team jetted into the country, President Uhuru Kenyatta issued a directive freezing all new government projects until those that are ongoing are completed. A statement from the president’s communications team noted that the directive is aimed at stopping wastage of public resources.
