Kenya: Treasury - Kenya to Resume IMF Funding Talks in February

29 January 2026
Capital FM (Nairobi)
By Phidel Kizito

Nairobi — The National Treasury has said that the government will resume negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a fresh funding arrangement in February 2026, marking a renewed effort to secure external financial support after the collapse of the previous programme.

Director General of the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO), Raphael Owino, said the IMF team will be in the country next month to continue discussions on a successor arrangement to support Kenya's economic reform agenda.

Owino emphasized that engagement between Nairobi and the Bretton Woods institution has been constructive.

"We have had very healthy discussions with them, very frank discussions, where we are telling them exactly what is on the ground, including the fact that before the end of next month the IMF is likely to be back in the country to continue the discussions we had expected," he said.

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According to Owino, the IMF staff visits provide an opportunity for the lender to better understand Kenya's macroeconomic outlook and borrowing plans.

"They have been coming to look at how we view the economy now, what the outlook is, what the Treasury thinks of the developments coming in the medium term, and what the borrowing plan is, particularly from external sources whether we are still going back to the Eurobond market, whether we are still going to get the BPO from the World Bank, and whether the IMF is coming on board. They moved it to February, so the IMF mission will be here in February."

Kenya's earlier IMF engagement was anchored on a multi-year, $3.6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement, approved in April 2021 to support the economy after the COVID-19 shock by strengthening fiscal discipline and debt sustainability.

However, the programme expired in April 2025 without completion of its ninth review, after Nairobi failed to meet 11 of 16 performance conditions agreed with the IMF.

These included targets for revenue collection, budget consolidation, restrictions on the use of the fuel stabilization fund, and structural reforms such as the restructuring of Kenya Airways.

The IMF subsequently withheld about Sh109.7 billion ($850 million) in funding tied to the final review.

The failure to meet conditions, combined with public pushback against the 2025 Finance Bill, left a financing gap in the national budget and underscored the challenges Kenya faces in reconciling fiscal reforms with political and social pressures.

Read the original article on Capital FM.

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