IMF and some key policy queries for Kenyans to ponder
Friday April 09 2021
By DENNIS KABAARA
Summary
The IMF will advise and finance the government’s programme to address immediate challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.
But the real programme objective is to gradually stabilise the public debt.
There will be short-term support owing to Covid-19, but the long-term vision is a reduced budget deficit through revenue growth and cost rationalisation.
Written through gritted and clenched teeth, the web post ends thus: “The alternative to this financing is much sharper fiscal consolidation or much more expensive borrowing on commercial terms”. I refer to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on Kenya response to this week’s outcry over loans.