The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a $2.34 billion financing loan for Kenya to support the country’s Covid-19 response.
IMF issued a statement on Friday stating that the board had approved the 38-month financing plan under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
“Kenya was hit hard at the onset by the Covid-19 pandemic. With a forceful policy response, the economy has been picking up heading into 2021 after likely posting a slight contraction of 0.1% in 2020. Even with this recovery, challenges remain in the return to durable and inclusive growth, and past gains in poverty reduction have been reversed," part of the statement read.
The new IMF programme comes with new strict conditions with Kenyans raising concerns over tax burden.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani recently said IMF should be more flexible when negotiating loans with countries.
Read More
“Programme conditionality has to be realistic, monitorable and country-specific. Without this, countries find themselves in endless and sometime non-productive negotiations with the fund, which can also have adverse market implications if markets think there’s a problem,” Ukur stated.
-1728108852.jpg)
