Nairobi — The International Monetary Fund IMF has refuted claims that Kenya lost access to its $1.5 billion standby loan in June clarifying that the precautionary financing remains in place until the end of March 2018.
IMF representative in Kenya Jan Mikkelsen says the government continues to have access to resources since last June, “subject to policy understanding and to complete the outstanding reviews.”
Mikkelsen adds that the second and third reviews of the program that was due in June and December 2017 could not be completed on schedule due to the prolonged election period.
The funds, approved by the IMF in March 2016, were available for Kenya to access if it faced shocks that led to a balance-of-payments crisis.
He says an IMF team is currently in Nairobi for discussions on a possible new programme and there is hope for an agreement.