{"id":25320,"date":"2021-04-03T21:19:41","date_gmt":"2021-04-03T21:19:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/?p=25320"},"modified":"2021-04-03T21:19:41","modified_gmt":"2021-04-03T21:19:41","slug":"imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya","title":{"rendered":"IMF approves Sh252.2b in new financing arrangements for Kenya"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>AfricaPress-Kenya:<\/strong> The International Monetary Fund on Friday said its board had approved new three-year financing arrangements for Kenya valued at $2.34 billion to help the African country continue responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and address its debt vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n<p>Approval of the new loans under the Fund\u2019s Extended Credit Facility and Extended Fund Facility will enable immediate disbursement of about $307.5 million that Kenya can use for budget support, adding to $739 million it received in emergency COVID-19 aid in May 2020, the Fund said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The IMF said Kenya\u2019s debt remained sustainable, but it was at high risk of debt distress, and authorities should focus their near-term agenda on urgent structural policy challenges.<\/p>\n<p>For nearly two years, Kenya has abandoned expensive commercial debt to cut back on ballooning repayments, while revenue collection has been squeezed by the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>It also faces huge budget deficits that have been deepened by the coronavirus crisis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe program supported by EFF\/ECF arrangements with the Fund provides a strong signal of support and confidence,\u201d IMF Deputy Managing Director Antoinette Sayeh said in a statement. \u201cThe Kenyan authorities have demonstrated strong commitment to fiscal reforms during this unprecedented global shock, and Kenya\u2019s medium-term prospects remain positive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kenya was hit hard at the onset by the COVID-19 pandemic, but its economy has been picking up after likely posting a slight contraction of 0.1 per cent in 2020, the IMF said.<\/p>\n<p>It said it forecast a sharp swing to growth of 7.6 per cent in 2021 and 5.7 per cent in 2022, but said Kenya continued to face challenges in the return to durable growth, and its past gains in poverty reduction had been reversed.<\/p>\n<p>The COVID-19 shock had also exacerbated the country\u2019s pre-existing fiscal vulnerabilities, the IMF said, although Kenyan authorities had taken action to hold the fiscal deficit and debt ratios to 8.7 and 70.4 per cent of GDP, respectively, this fiscal year.<\/p>\n<p>Support from a Group of 20 moratorium on debt service payments and development partners will help Kenya close its financing gap in 2021 along with financing from capital markets.<\/p>\n<p>Sayeh said Kenya was taking steps to reduce debt-related risks, but should continue to provide necessary support to the economy and focus on urgent structural policy challenges, including financial weaknesses in some state-owned enterprises.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AfricaPress-Kenya: The International Monetary Fund on Friday said its board had approved new three-year financing arrangements for Kenya valued at $2.34 billion to help the African country continue responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and address its debt vulnerabilities. Approval of the new loans under the Fund\u2019s Extended Credit Facility and Extended Fund Facility will enable [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":25318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,8],"tags":[1539,543,1031],"class_list":["post-25320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-homepage-english","tag-covid-19","tag-imf","tag-world-bank"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>IMF approves Sh252.2b in new financing arrangements for Kenya - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The International Monetary Fund on Friday said its board had approved new three-year financing arrangements for Kenya valued at\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"IMF approves Sh252.2b in new financing arrangements for Kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The International Monetary Fund on Friday said its board had approved new three-year financing arrangements for Kenya valued at\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-03T21:19:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2021\/04\/imf_approves_sh252260689e389c602.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"IMF approves Sh252.2b in new financing arrangements for Kenya\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-03T21:19:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya\"},\"wordCount\":383,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2021\/04\/imf_approves_sh252260689e389c602.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"COVID-19\",\"IMF\",\"World Bank\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya\",\"name\":\"IMF approves Sh252.2b in new financing arrangements for Kenya - kenya\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2021\/04\/imf_approves_sh252260689e389c602.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-03T21:19:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"The International Monetary Fund on Friday said its board had approved new three-year financing arrangements for Kenya valued at\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2021\/04\/imf_approves_sh252260689e389c602.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2021\/04\/imf_approves_sh252260689e389c602.jpg\",\"width\":853,\"height\":500},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"IMF approves Sh252.2b in new financing arrangements for Kenya\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/\",\"name\":\"kenya\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"IMF approves Sh252.2b in new financing arrangements for Kenya - kenya","description":"The International Monetary Fund on Friday said its board had approved new three-year financing arrangements for Kenya valued at","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"IMF approves Sh252.2b in new financing arrangements for Kenya","og_description":"The International Monetary Fund on Friday said its board had approved new three-year financing arrangements for Kenya valued at","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya","og_site_name":"kenya","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2021-04-03T21:19:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":853,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2021\/04\/imf_approves_sh252260689e389c602.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"IMF approves Sh252.2b in new financing arrangements for Kenya","datePublished":"2021-04-03T21:19:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya"},"wordCount":383,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2021\/04\/imf_approves_sh252260689e389c602.jpg","keywords":["COVID-19","IMF","World Bank"],"articleSection":["all news","economy","homepage-english"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya","name":"IMF approves Sh252.2b in new financing arrangements for Kenya - kenya","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2021\/04\/imf_approves_sh252260689e389c602.jpg","datePublished":"2021-04-03T21:19:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"The International Monetary Fund on Friday said its board had approved new three-year financing arrangements for Kenya valued at","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2021\/04\/imf_approves_sh252260689e389c602.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2021\/04\/imf_approves_sh252260689e389c602.jpg","width":853,"height":500},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/imf-approves-sh252-2b-in-new-financing-arrangements-for-kenya#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"IMF approves Sh252.2b in new financing arrangements for Kenya"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/","name":"kenya","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}