(Reuters) -International Monetary Fund staff will visit Kenya from September 25 to October 9 to begin talks with the government on a possible IMF-backed programme, the Fund said on Wednesday.
The East African nation’s $3.6 billion programme with the IMF expired in April and officials, including the governor of the central bank Kamau Thugge, have expressed interest in getting a new one that will include a lending component.
“An IMF staff team will begin initial discussions in the coming days on a possible Fund-supported programme,” Haimanot Teferra, the IMF’s mission chief for Kenya, said in a statement.
Kenya’s dollar bonds perked up after the news, with the 2048 maturity gaining 0.7 cents to bid at 89.88 cents on the dollar, Tradeweb data showed.
Financial analysts say that Kenya needs a new loan deal from the IMF to anchor external debt repayments.
In March, Kenya and the IMF abandoned the final review of its last programme, and the government did not receive the final tranche of its Extended Fund Facility and Extended Credit Facility, worth $800 million.
Kenya had struggled to rein in its fiscal deficit and boost revenue collection under the programme, two of the main requirements of the IMF, after it was forced to scrap planned tax hikes following deadly nationwide protests.
Teferra said the IMF remains committed to supporting Kenya in its efforts to maintain macroeconomic stability, safeguard debt sustainability and strengthen governance.
(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru and Duncan Miriri in Nairobi; Editing by Joe Bavier, Alexandra Hudson)
