Kenya can now get $606 million after the IMF board accepts its reviews

The IMF said on Wednesday that the seventh and eighth reviews of Kenya’s program had been accepted by the organization’s executive board. This means that the government, which is short on cash, can now get a $606 million loan.

In June, the East African country and the IMF staff said they had reached a deal on the seventh review of its $3.6 billion program. However, deadly protests stopped the review from being finished at the board level and the money from being sent out.

Violence at protests led President William Ruto to drop the government’s finance bill, which included a lot of tax hikes. More than 60 people were killed.

“Despite a tough socio-economic environment, Kenya’s economy remains resilient,” IMF First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath said in a statement on Wednesday. “Growth is above the regional average, inflation is slowing, and external inflows are supporting the shilling and building up external buffers.”

The IMF also asked Kenya to improve its government and be more open.

“The Kenyan authorities face a difficult balancing act of boosting domestic revenues to protect critical spending in priority areas while meeting heavy debt service obligations,” the IMF noted.

Part of the board study was also about giving money to Kenya through its RSF (sustainability window).

People think that Kenya needs help from the IMF to get through its current cash problems, which are mostly caused by high debt interest payments.

Kenya’s government has said that they will look for another program with the IMF when the current one stops in April of next year.