(Reuters) -The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday that its staff will visit Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, from September 25 to October 9 to begin talks with Kenyan authorities about a possible IMF-backed programme.
Kenya’s central bank governor Kamau Thugge said in August that the East African nation wants its next IMF programme to be a funded one.
“At the request of the Kenyan authorities, an IMF staff team will begin initial discussions in the coming days on a possible Fund-supported programme,” Haimanot Teferra, the IMF’s mission chief, said in a statement.
The consensus among financial analysts is that Kenya needs a new loan from the IMF to anchor external debt repayments.
“IMF remains committed to supporting Kenya in its efforts to maintain macroeconomic stability, safeguard debt sustainability, strengthen governance,” Teferra said.
She added that the team looked forward to engaging constructively with authorities and other stakeholders during the visit.
In March, Kenya and the IMF abandoned the final review of its last support programme, and the government did not receive the concluding batch of its $3.6 billion Extended Fund Facility and Extended Credit Facility, worth $800 million.
Kenya had struggled to rein in its fiscal deficit and boost revenue collection under the programme, two of the main requirements of the IMF, after it was forced to scrap planned tax hikes following deadly nationwide protests.
(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by Joe Bavier)
