The executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is scheduled to meet on July 17 to consider the fifth review of Kenya’s ongoing programme that was extended by 10 months to April 2025.
Successful consideration of the fifth review will unlock Kenya’s access to $410.0 million (Sh57.8 billion) as its sixth drawdown from the credit line provided under this programme.
The IMF says the Executive Board meeting will focus on, among other things, Kenya’s request for a new 20-month loan facility under the fund’s resilience and sustainability facility translating to about Sh76.8 billion.
“Fifth Reviews under the Extended Fund Facility and Extended Credit Facility arrangements and request for a 20-month arrangement under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility. Requests for extension, rephasing, and augmentation of access, modification of a performance criterion, waiver of applicability for performance criteria and waiver of non-observance for a performance criterion, and monetary policy consultation clause,” the fund says in its board meetings calendar.
This will be Kenya’s second largest drawdown from the ongoing IMF programme with the largest having been the December 2022 $447.4 million (Sh63.1 billion) credit line which followed the conclusion of the fourth review.
Including the amount to be approved following the fifth review, Kenya will have tapped $2.07 billion (Sh291.3 billion) since the current plan with the IMF started in April 2021.
“Upon completion of the fifth reviews by the IMF Executive Board, Kenya would have immediate access to SDR306.7 million (about US$410 million), including from the augmentation of access under the Extended Credit Facility/Extended Fund Facility. This would bring total IMF financial support disbursed under the EFF and ECF arrangements to SDR1,509 million (about US$ 2,017 million),” the IMF stated in its May 23rd statement upon conclusion of the staff level agreements.
The July 17 meeting comes when the IMF Nairobi Office is undergoing changes with Haimanot Teferra having taken over as Mission Chief from Mary Goodman earlier in the year while Tobias Rasmussen is due to exit as the resident representative this month.
