Kenya fulfilled all targets in IMF review, central bank governor says
Recasts with details on IMF loan programme review, adds background
By Karin Strohecker
WASHINGTON, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Kenya has fulfilled all targets mandated by the International Monetary Fund in a review of its loan programme, the country's central bank governor told Reuters on Wednesday, and expects to continue its engagement with the global lender after April.
Kenya agreed to a four-year loan with the IMF in 2021, and has also signed up for climate change lending, taking its total loan access with the Fund to $3.6 billion.
But deadly protests against planned tax rises forced the government to scupper its planned finance bill in June, leaving the heavily indebted government with a bigger budget deficit for this financial year, mounting unpaid bills, and a delay in disbursement of IMF funding.
"We've achieved all that was needed for the reviews to be completed," Kamau Thugge, the head of the Central Bank of Kenya, told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Washington. "Obviously after the review there are still the targets for December."
A staff level agreement on a combined 7th and 8th review of the country's programme is scheduled to go the IMF's executive board for a sign-off on Oct. 30, which will in turn trigger a payout of $611 million.
Asked whether the country was going to request another financing programme with the IMF after the current one runs out in April, Thugge said that would be the base case, though the size and duration were yet to be confirmed.
"It will depend on the balance of payments and needs, it will depend on the ambitiousness of the reforms that we agree," he said. "But definitely, we will have our relationship going forward with the IMF."
Speaking about the macroeconomic outlook, Thugge said inflation in Kenya continues to decline and the country had built up more foreign exchange reserves.
Inflation was set to decline below the 3.6% annual rate recorded in September, he said, adding that the country's FX reserves currently stood at $8.6 billion, representing 4.3 months worth of imports. Thecentral bank had said earlier in October that reserves stood at $8.25 billion.
More interest rate cuts also are on the cards, Thugge said, after policymakers slashed the benchmark lending rate by 75 basis points in October to 12.00%, following a 25-basis-point reduction in August - the first rate cut in approximately four years.
"It's the desire of everybody for interest rates to come down," Thugge said.
Reporting by Karin Strohecker; Editing by Paul Simao
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
